Support among the Hungarian electorate for the Socialists has stagnated since the beginning of the year, never climbing over 8 percent, in spite of the party’s decision in January to nominate Szeged mayor László Botka as their candidate for prime minister in the general election next year, daily Magar Idők said on Saturday, citing a poll it commissioned from the Nézőpont Institute.

The poll shows the governing alliance of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats enjoyed more support in May than all of the other parties combined. Fully 29 percent of Hungarians of voting age supported the ruling alliance.

Support for opposition Jobbik stood at 10 percent and support for the Socialists was 7 percent. Among the smaller parties, the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) and the green LMP were each backed by 3 percent of voters.

The poll shows 2.4 million Hungarian support the ruling alliance, while just 600,000 support the Socialists, well under Botka’s target of 1 million supporters, Nézőpont noted.

Taking core party support into account, the ruling parties were backed by 44 percent of respondents, Jobbik by 21 percent, and the Socialists by 14 percent. DK and LMP were each backed by 5 percent, Momentum by 3 percent, the Liberals by 2 percent, and Együtt and Dialogue each by 1 percent.

The poll was conducted between May 4 and 23 with a sample of 2,000 voting-age adults.

Source: MTI