poll

Unbelievable! Fidesz lead over opposition widens after election!

Viktor Orbán peace march Budapest 15 March

The ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat (KDNP) parties would win 56 percent of the votes, while the united opposition would garner 34 percent if the elections were held this Sunday, the daily Magyar Nemzet said citing a recent poll by the Nézőpont Institute.

According to the representative poll conducted over the phone on a sample of 1,000 adults, the radical Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party would again pass the parliamentary threshold with 5 percent of the votes, and the Two-tailed dog party would win 3 percent, Nézőpont said.

Meanwhile, if the parties of the united opposition ran independently, only the Momentum Movement (6 percent) and the Democratic Coalition (5 percent) would make it to parliament, the pollster said. Jobbik would garner 3 percent, while the Socialists and LMP around one percent. Support for an independent Párbeszéd party is negligible, Nézőpont said.

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Read alsoBarack Obama: Hungary is an authoritarian regime

Pro-govt poll: Orbán and Fidesz retains lead

Hungary election 2022

Fully 49 percent of Hungary’s “politically active voters” would support ruling Fidesz and 41 percent would vote for the united opposition if the general election were held this coming Sunday, the Nézőpont Institute said on Monday.

The pollster said on it website that the gap between the two blocs had not narrowed, while it also said its data indicated that

“the Russia-Ukraine war has clearly had a negative impact on support for the smaller parties”.

Nézőpont said only 4 percent of Fidesz supporters were undecided, while that ratio was as high as 41 percent on the other side, adding that “this could be explained by Péter Márki-Zay’s lack of popularity”, it added, referring to the prime ministerial candidate of the united opposition.

According to the pollster, 56 percent of left-leaning respondents said they would prefer Márki-Zay to be the next prime minister to incumbent Viktor Orbán, while the rest of this segment “could not express a clear position”.

“The leftist candidate is not powerful enough to maximise votes,” they said.

Nézőpont said the proportion of swing voters within the camp of active voters came to 5 percent, which the pollster characterised as “unusual”.

The survey has indicated 3 percent support for the satirical Two-tailed Dog Party, and 2 percent for radical party Mi Hazánk, which may make either parties winning seats unlikely, the pollster said.

The poll was conducted by phone between March 16 and 21, with a representative sample of 1,000 voting-age adults.

Read more news about 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election

Read alsoOpposition calls on Orbán to ‘drop smear campaign against EU’

Government-close think tank: six out of ten Hungarians back Orbán

Viktor Orbán military helicopter

Six out of ten Hungarians support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a poll by the government-close Centre for Fundamental Rights released on Thursday shows.

The prime minister has seen his support rise significantly by mid-March, with 61 percent of active voters preferring to see him stay in power as against 26 percent in favour of the prime ministerial candidate of the united opposition, the think tank said.

Whereas Orbán’s approval rating has consistently been above the 50 percent mark in the past 16 weeks, Peter Márki-Zay has seen his popularity fluctuate between 22 percent and 28 percent and stagnate since the start of the war in Ukraine. According to the poll, Márki-Zay trails Orbán among all social groups, including young people and Budapest voters.

Orbán’s popularity has increased since the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, with the share of active voters backing him jumping from 52 percent to 61 percent in the last two weeks, the think tank said.

The prime minister is backed by 48 percent of voters in the 18-29 age group, with 34 percent of them supporting Márki-Zay. Orbán leads Márki-Zay 45-42 percent among Budapest voters and 72-15 percent among rural Hungarians.

The Centre for Fundamental Rights conducted its polls by phone between November 15, 2021 and March 10, 2022 with representative samples of 1,000 adults.

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Read alsoTrump states support for Orbán in letter

Is there a chance for a government change in April?

Hungary opposition

Fully seventy percent of respondents in a recent Századvég poll said Péter Márki Zay, the united opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, would not be able to beat Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the April 3 general election, the government-close think-tank said on Friday.

“The majority of Hungarians has a negative view of Marki-Zay’s personal qualities of a political dimension,” Századvég said.

Fifty-three percent of respondents did not consider Márki-Zay “strong or firm”, while 56 percent were unconvinced by his Christian and conservative credentials. Fifty-nine percent said he “does not place Hungarian people first”.

Sixty-two percent of respondents “do not consider him a straightforward or honest politician” while only 30 percent said he was “one of us”,

the pollster said.

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“It is obvious that optimism on the left wing, following Márki-Zay’s victory in the [opposition] primary, has now ebbed,” Századvég said, suggesting that several remarks the candidate had made were “not in line with the values of Hungarian voters”.

The think-tank insisted that Márki-Zay preferred health services to be operated on a for-profit basis, adding that 72 percent of respondents to its survey had expressed disagreement with such an idea. Seventy-four percent of respondents also rejected a proposal attributed to the politician “to privatise hospitals and outpatient clinics”.

Hungary opposition
Read also Is there a chance for a government change in April?

Government-close pollster measured Orbán victory for 2022

Viktor Orbán crowd
A large majority of active voters, 68 percent, saw the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats (KDNP) winning the general election if it were held this Sunday, according to a fresh survey of the Nézőpont Institute.
 
Only 15 percent of active voters anticipated an opposition win, the survey published in the Wednesday edition of the daily Magyar Nemzet found.
 
Pro-government voters are overwhelmingly confident about the elections, Nézőpont said. Fully 88 percent anticipated Fidesz-KDNP being re-elected, 11 percent expressed uncertainty, while a mere 1 percent reckoned with an opposition victory, Nézőpont said. 
 
Among opposition voters, 42 percent saw their side winning as against 36 percent who anticipated a victory by the ruling parties,
 
Nézőpont said.
 
 
Active voters have not changed their minds since December 2021, Nézőpont said, suggesting the “leftist parties’ failure to get organised”.
 
“Due to constant delays in finalising a joint list, delays in finding common ground on campaign issues, a lack of messages offering an alternative and [joint prime ministerial candidate]
 
Péter Márki-Zay’s weak campaign performance,
 
the past month has failed to bring about positive turn for the anti-government forces,” Nézőpont said.
1956 Hungarian Revolution Commemoration Freedom March
Read alsoPoll: if only Romania Hungarians voted, Fidesz would have an 83 pc majority

Poll: if only Romania Hungarians voted, Fidesz would have an 83 pc majority

1956 Hungarian Revolution Commemoration Freedom March
Fully 42 percent of dual citizens among Romania’s ethnic Hungarian minority would cast their vote in Hungary’s parliamentary election next year, mostly supporting ruling Fidesz, according to a poll released on Wednesday.
 
The poll, conducted by the Balvanyos Institute and Transylvania Inquiry on a representative sample of 1,218 adults, showed that about 60 percent of Romania Hungarians had Hungarian citizenship, and
 
83 percent of those wishing to participate in the election would vote for Fidesz.
 
Four percent of respondents said they would support conservative opposition Jobbik, while only 3 percent would vote for the allied opposition parties of Hungary.
 
Government aids 1,464 organisations of Hungarians living abroad


Ninety-four percent of respondents said they were familiar with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and 89 percent had a positive opinion of him. Eighty-three percent said they knew who Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsány was, while 69 percent were familiar with Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and 59 percent with Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony.
 
Seventy-seven percent indicated their rejection of Gyurcsány,
 
while all government politicians had a positive (50 percent or more) popularity index.
1956 Hungarian Revolution Commemoration Freedom March
Read alsoPoll: if only Romania Hungarians voted, Fidesz would have an 83 pc majority

Ruling parties hold comfortable lead in Hungary – poll

orbán

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance would end up with 55 percent of the vote if elections were held this weekend, as against 44 percent garnered by the joint list of the left-wing opposition parties and 1 percent by other party lists, pollster Real-PR 93 said on Tuesday.

By this autumn practically a two-party system has emerged in Hungary, with right-wing Fidesz and the joint list of the left-wing opposition fighting for victory in the general election next spring, the pollster said, adding that

the other parties are expected to attract but a tiny fragment of votes.

Among all voters, the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance stands at 46 percent, the opposition alliance at 42 percent and other parties at 2 percent.

A tenth of those asked were unable or unwilling to disclose their party preference.

Real-PR 93 interviewed a representative sample of 1,000 respondents over the phone between October 19 and 21.

As we wrote yesterday, Ferenc Dancs, the deputy state secretary for North America of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, said that the USA sponsors broadcasts on Radio Free Europe intended to undermine the Hungarian prime minister. Details HERE.

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Read alsoThe foreign media picked up the Hungarian pre-election

Survey: Mayor, opposition coalition unpopular with majority of voters

mayor karácsony

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who is vying to become the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition alliance, is unpopular with 57 percent of decided voters, while 54 percent view the opposition coalition unfavourably, a survey published by the Századvég Institute on Tuesday showed.

Only 37 percent of respondents said they found the mayor sympathetic, while 39 percent supported the opposition, Századvég said.

In terms of Karácsony’s popularity index (the difference between positive and negative responses), he is less popular (minus 20 percent) than the opposition alliance (minus 15 percent), the survey found.

His low approval rating may be due to the fact that Karácsony had already lost a general election in 2018, Századvág said.

Voters may also feel that his performance as mayor has failed to live up to expectations, as he failed to fulfil campaign promises such as cost-free public transport for children under 14 and heating subsidies for the elderly and vulnerable, Szazadveg said.

Among undecided voters, Karácsony is unpopular with 51 percent and popular with 17 percent (a popularity rating of minus 34 percent), Századvég said.

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Read alsoSurvey: 80% of Hungarians do not want a homosexual PM

Young British people want to ditch the monarchy, poll suggests

queen elizabeth

Young people in Britain no longer think the country should keep the monarchy and more now want an elected head of state, with their mood souring over the last couple of years, a poll on Friday showed.

The British monarchy traces its history back to William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066, though royals ruled the patchwork of kingdoms which stretched across what became England, Scotland and Wales for centuries before that.

According to the survey by YouGov, 41% of those aged 18 to 24 thought there should now be an elected head of state compared to 31% who wanted a king or queen.

That was a reversal of sentiment from two years ago, when 46% preferred the monarchy to 26% who wanted it replaced.

However, overall the survey had better news for Queen Elizabeth, 95, and the royal family, with 61% favouring the monarchy while just under a quarter thought it should be replaced with an elected figure.

The last few months have been difficult for the Windsors with the death of the queen’s 99-year-old husband Prince Philip in April and the crisis that followed the interview by Elizabeth’s grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan with U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey in March.

Previous polls have indicated an age divide, with younger generations holding more favourable views of Harry and Meghan than their older counterparts who had overhwelmingly negative feelings about them.

While there is no possibility of an end to the monarchy while the queen remains on the throne, there is concern for the royals about a declining support among younger Britons.

The survey of 4,870 adults found 53% of those aged between 25-49 supported keeping the monarchy, down five percentage points from a similar poll in 2019, while support for an elected head was up 4 points.

Amongst those aged over 65, 81% backed the monarchy, almost unchanged from two years ago.

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Read alsoPrince Philip makes final journey followed by Charles, William and Harry

Hungarian ruling parties increases lead during the pandemic?

orbán

The Fidesz-Christian Democrats (KDNP) coalition increased its lead over the opposition in April, with 40 percent of voters supporting the ruling parties, daily Magyar Nemzet said on Monday.

According to a representative survey conducted by the pro-government Nézőpont Institute last week, 34 percent of Hungarian voters support the opposition parties, the paper said.

Since March, the ruling parties have gained two percentage points, while the opposition lost three, their lowest rating yet since they announced to run together at the 2022 elections, Nézőpont said.

The popularity of the ruling parties is likely thanks to the successful coronavirus inoculation campaign,

Nézőpont said. That is also mirrored in the popularity of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, with 58 percent of respondents saying they were satisfied with his work. Only 35 percent are critical of the prime minister, Nézőpont said.

Fully 51 percent of decided voters would vote for the ruling parties if the elections were held this Sunday, Nézőpont said.

The support of opposition parties stands at 43 percent. Of that demographic, 6 percent said to be dissatisfied with the government’s work, the pollster said.

Nézőpont conducted the survey between April 27-28, on a 1,000-strong sample representative of Hungarians above the age of 18.

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Read alsoHungarian ruling parties increases lead during the pandemic?

Biden fares better than Trump over first 100 days – poll

BIDEN, Joe

More than half of Americans approve of President Joe Biden after nearly 100 days on the job, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, a level of support that his Republican predecessor Donald Trump never achieved and one that should help Democrats push for infrastructure spending and other big-ticket items on Biden’s agenda.

The national opinion poll of 4,423 adults from April 12-16 found that 55% approved of Biden’s performance in office, while 40% disapproved and the rest were not sure.

Biden received the highest marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with 65% supporting his response. In January, 38% approved of Trump’s handling of the health crisis. Ninety-percent of Democrats, 61% of independents and 39% of Republicans said they approved of Biden’s response, the poll showed. 

Fifty-two percent of Americans also said they liked Biden’s handling of the economy and 53% said the same about his impact on U.S. jobs, which in both cases were a few percentage points higher than Trump’s marks on jobs and the economy during his final month in office.

But Biden received his strongest criticism on immigration, as his administration continues to grapple with a surge of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border: 42% approved of the president’s border policy, while 49% disapproved.

More than half gave Biden strong marks for bipartisanship, though Democrats were much more likely than others to credit Biden for unifying the deeply divided electorate. Fifty-six percent approved of Biden’s efforts, including 88% of Democrats, 23% of Republicans and 48% of independents.

Americans were also generally supportive of Biden’s stance on the environment and racial inequality, with 54% and 51% approving of his record so far, respectively.

Biden is benefiting somewhat from circumstances that are beyond his control. He had months to prepare his pandemic response before becoming president, and some coronavirus vaccines were already in use before his Jan. 20 inauguration. Biden’s economy also has the advantage of being compared against the 2020 pandemic recession, when employers shed millions of jobs as COVID-19 shuttered businesses and schools.

Still, Biden’s approval numbers reflect popular support for his ambitious agenda, including a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package and should help him pursue other initiatives, said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University.

Biden is now pushing for a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that many Republicans oppose, and he is expected to propose tax hikes on the wealthy to raise money for childcare and other programs for American workers.

His popularity will help Biden keep his party together, Zelizer said, blunting malcontents on both the progressive and moderate wings of the party, and possibly tempering opposition from some Republicans, especially those in politically competitive states.

Lyna Sandau, a 75-year-old Republican from New York City, said she admires how Biden has aggressively supplied the United States with vaccines. Sandau voted for Trump last year, but if the election were held again, she would probably back Biden.

“What can I say, he seems to be trying,” she said.

BROAD SUPPORT IN SPLIT AMERICA

Republicans largely oppose Biden, with only about 20% supporting the president, but those numbers have not changed much over the past year. Biden so far has been able to counter that with near-unanimous approval among Democrats and strong support among independents.

About 90% of Democrats approve of Biden, while 8% disapprove. Among independents, 51% approve and 39% disapprove.

Most presidents enjoy at least a brief period of elevated popularity, and Trump’s favorability numbers also rose when he entered office four years ago. But they declined a few weeks later as he pushed to ban travel from Muslim countries.

Biden’s popularity, meanwhile, has grown over the past year among a broad cross-section of the American population, not only among the white college graduates who helped put him in the White House, but also among the traditionally conservative non-college whites who still dominate the electorate in many places.

According to the April poll, 61% of white college graduates and 46% of whites who did not get a degree said they have a favorable view of the president, which is up 7 points and 6 points, respectively, from a year ago.

Biden also has become more popular over the past year among racial minorities, with 68% of Hispanics expressing a favorable view of Biden, up 12 points from last April. 

The latest poll also shows more Americans – 40% – think the country is headed in the right direction than at any other time in the last decade.

That is about as good as a Democrat should expect in such a hyper-partisan political environment, said Robert Shrum, a Democratic strategist and political scientist at the University of Southern California.

Republicans will likely continue to oppose Biden en masse, Shrum said. But Democrats could counter by pushing for policy initiatives that are popular among conservatives too, such as rebuilding roads and expanding internet access.

“It is very useful to have Republicans who may not give you a high job rating out in the country agree with some of or many of the steps that you want to take,” Shrum said.

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Read alsoBiden to attack Hungary’s Orbán cabinet through NATO?

Dwayne Johnson would run for U.S. President if people want him

dwayne johnson

“Fast & Furious” star Dwayne Johnson said on Monday that he would run for U.S. President if he felt he had enough support from Americans.

Johnson, 48, one of the highest-paid and most popular actors in the United States, has been flirting with a possible White House bid for several years.

“I do have that goal to unite our country and I also feel that if this is what the people want, then I will do that,” Johnson said when asked about his presidential ambitions in an interview broadcast on the “Today” show on Monday.

The former professional wrestler did not say which party he would represent or when he might launch any bid for the White House.

His remarks follow an online public opinion poll released last week by consumer trends company Piplsay that found some 46% of Americans would consider voting for Johnson.

Johnson, known as “The Rock,” said he was humbled by the poll.

“I don’t think our Founding Fathers EVER envisioned a six-four, bald, tattooed, half-Black, half-Samoan, tequila drinking, pick-up truck driving, fanny-pack wearing guy joining their club – but if it ever happens it’d be my honor to serve you, the people,” he said in an Instagram posting.

Johnson, whose work includes the rebooted “Jumanji” movie franchise and the TV show “Young Rock,” joins a long list of American celebrities who have run for political office, including former “Apprentice” star Donald Trump.

“Magic Mike” actor Matthew McConaughey and former Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner are reported to be weighing potential runs for governor in Texas and California respectively.

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Read alsoDwayne Johnson would run for U.S. President if people want him

Half of Republicans believe false accounts of deadly U.S. Capitol riot – poll

capitolium washington

Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.

Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists “trying to make Trump look bad,” a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November’s presidential election “was stolen” from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.

Since the Capitol attack, Trump, many of his allies within the Republican Party and right-wing media personalities have publicly painted a picture of the day’s events jarringly at odds with reality.

Hundreds of Trump’s supporters, mobilized by the former president’s false claims of a stolen election, climbed walls of the Capitol building and smashed windows to gain entry while lawmakers were inside voting to certify President Joe Biden’s election victory. The rioters – many of them sporting Trump campaign gear and waving flags – also included known white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys.

In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump said the rioters posed “zero threat.” Other prominent Republicans, such as Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, have publicly doubted whether Trump supporters were behind the riot.

Last month, 12 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against a resolution honoring Capitol Police officers who defended the grounds during the rampage, with one lawmaker saying that he objected using the word “insurrection” to describe the incident.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows a large number of rank-and-file Republicans have embraced the myth.

While 59% of all Americans say Trump bears some responsibility for the attack, only three in 10 Republicans agree. Eight in 10 Democrats and six in 10 independents reject the false claims that the Capitol siege was “mostly peaceful” or it was staged by left-wing protestors.

“Republicans have their own version of reality,” said John Geer, an expert on public opinion at Vanderbilt University. “It is a huge problem. Democracy requires accountability and accountability requires evidence.”

The refusal of Trump and prominent Republicans to repudiate the events of Jan. 6 increases the likelihood of a similar incident happening again, said Susan Corke, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

“That is the biggest danger – normalizing this behavior,” Corke said. “I do think we are going to see more violence.”

In a fresh reminder of the security threats the U.S. Capitol faces since Jan. 6, a motorist rammed a car into U.S. Capitol police on Friday and brandished a knife, killing one officer and injuring another and forcing the Capitol complex to lock down. Officers shot and killed the suspect.

Allie Carroll, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said its members condemned the Capitol attack and referred to a Jan. 13 statement from Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “Violence has no place in our politics … Those who partook in the assault on our nation’s Capitol and those who continue to threaten violence should be found, held accountable, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McDaniel said.

A representative for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

‘DANGEROUS SPIN ON REALITY’

The disinformation campaign aimed at downplaying the insurrection and Trump’s role in it reflects a growing consensus within the Republican Party that its fortunes remain tethered to Trump and his devoted base, political observers say.

According to the new Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump remains the most popular figure within the party, with eight in 10 Republicans continuing to hold a favorable impression of him.

“Congressional Republicans have assessed they need to max out the Trump vote to win,” said Tim Miller, a former spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. “That that is the path back to the majority.”

Republicans in Congress show few signs of breaking with Trump. Right after the deadly Capitol siege, 147 Republican lawmakers voted against certifying Biden’s election win. The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump for “inciting an insurrection”, making him the only U.S. president to be impeached twice, but most Senate Republicans acquitted him of the charge in a trial.

Last week, Republican congressman Jim Banks of Indiana said the party must cater to the working-class voters that comprise Trump’s political base ahead of next year’s critical midterm elections that will dictate control of Congress.

“Members who want to swap out working-class voters because they resent President Trump’s impact… are wrong,” Banks wrote in a memo to Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, contents of which he posted on Twitter.

Banks was one of the 147 lawmakers who voted to block certification of Biden’s win, and he later voted against impeaching Trump. Banks did not respond to requests for comment.

Some mainstream Republicans contend that after Republicans lost both the White House and control of both chambers of Congress on Trump’s watch, the party must move on from the former president in order to attract suburban, moderate and independent voters.

In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, only about three in 10 independents said they have a favorable view of Trump, among the lowest level recorded since his presidency. Most Americans — about 60% — also believe Biden won the November election fair and square, and said Trump should not run again.

Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of Trump’s top Republican critics in Congress, has criticized the push to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.

The disinformation effort is “such a dangerous, disgusting spin on reality,” Kinzinger wrote in a fundraising appeal to supporters last month, “and what’s even worse is that it goes unchallenged by so many in the Republican Party.”

The window for the Republican Party to distance itself from Trump seems to have passed, Miller said.

“There was a chance after January 6 for Republican leaders to really put their foot down and say, ‘We can’t be the insurrectionist party,’” he said. “Now that opportunity is totally gone.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,005 adults between March 30-31. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about 4 percentage points.

Click here to see the full poll results

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Read alsoMedia company Bloomberg enters the Hungarian market

U.S., Britain record worst anti-pandemic performance, says poll

trump in mask

The United States and Britain have handled the coronavirus pandemic poorly, according to a survey released Thursday.

Only 46 percent of Britons and 47 percent of Americans think their government has coped well with the coronavirus pandemic, far lower than Denmark with 95 percent.

They’re the only two countries where a minority of people said the government had done well.

The United States ranked last, with 18 percent saying that the country is more united now after the COVID-19 outbreak.

That is a full 21 percentage points below the next lowest-ranking countries. Germany and France had the second and third lowest score for feelings of unity, where 39 percent of respondents said their country was more united than before.

The United States has reported almost 6 million COVID-19 cases and more than 180,000 deaths, accounting for nearly one fourth and over one fifth of the world total respectively.

The figures come from the Pew Research Center, which interviewed 14,276 adults of 14 advanced economies by telephone from June 10 to Aug. 3.

Read alsoEU signs first deal with AstraZeneca to buy COVID-19 vaccines

POLL – Orbán’s approval rating highest in 5 years

orbán eu summit

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has garnered the highest approval rating in five years this month, a poll published by the Nézőpont research institute on Thursday showed.

In the poll conducted between July 14-16, 57 percent of respondents said they would like to see Orbán in a leading political role in the future, the institute said.

Only one-third of respondents were dissatisfied with Orbán’s performance, Nézőpont said, the lowest ratio since October 2015.

ORBÁN Viktor
Read alsoOrbán ‘winner’ of epidemic – Poll

The approval rating of Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, has gone up by 14 percentage points, of Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó by 10 points and of Finance Minister Mihály Varga by 9 points since December 2019, it said, attributing the scores to the government’s Covid-19 response measures.

Tapping the public’s opinion about the opposition, Nézőpont found that the most popular opposition politician was Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, with a 36 percent approval rating. 

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Read alsoPOLL – Orbán’s ruling party holds comfortable lead

The least popular is Ferenc Gyurcsány, the leader of the leftist Democratic Coalition, with 78 percent of respondents rejecting him, Nézőpont said.

Incumbent Duda marginally ahead in Polish presidential run-off

andrzej duda votes

Poland’s incumbent president Andrzej Duda was ahead by a tiny margin in Sunday’s presidential run-off, showed an Ipsos exit poll.

According to Ipsos, Duda, who is supported by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, received 50.4 percent of the vote, while his rival, Rafal Trzaskowski — backed by the main opposition party Civic Platform (PO) — won 49.6 percent.

With margins well within the two percentage point margin of error, the race is too close to call until at least partial results come in, with a distinct possibility that a winner can only be pointed out after all ballots are counted.

andrzej duda
Read alsoFinal poll shows dead beat in Poland’s run-off presidential election

According to the Polish Press Agency, under the State Electoral Commission’s optimistic scenario, the official results of the presidential run-off could come late on Monday or in the night from Monday to Tuesday. Otherwise, the final results will be announced by 11 p.m. (2100 GMT) on Tuesday.

Poles voting abroad will likely be a major factor in the final outcome. Over 500,000 ballots were cast outside of Poland, but are not reflected in the exit polls.

Speaking in the town of Pultusk, Duda claimed victory and invited Trzaskowski and his wife to the presidential palace to finish the campaign “with a handshake.”

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Read alsoTrump says “probably” sending U.S. troops from Germany to Poland

Trzaskowski also told his crowd in Warsaw that he is absolutely confident he will prevail. “All that needs to be done is to count the votes.”

Ipsos, the polling company that conducted the exit polls for the three major news networks in the country, meanwhile announced that no winner can be declared at this point.

According to Ipsos, the election turnout reached 68.9 percent, surpassing the record set during the presidential elections of 1995, at 68.2 percent.

Final poll shows dead beat in Poland’s run-off presidential election

andrzej duda

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda and opposition-backed candidate Rafal Trzaskowski tied in a final poll Friday ahead of Poland’s run-off presidential election on Sunday.

The poll, conducted by IBRiS for internet publication Onet.pl, confirmed a dead beat between the two candidates, a trend since the first-round election on June 28.

andzej duda poland election
Read alsoPoland resumes delayed presidential election

The poll showed Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and a candidate of the main opposition party Civic Platform (PO), at 47.4 percent support, followed by Duda at 45.7 percent.

“We need to read this result as a tie,” IBRiS director Marcin Duma told Onet. Seven percent are still undecided, the poll found.

Starting Friday midnight, polls are no longer allowed to be published and voter agitation is forbidden until polling stations close on Sunday evening.

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Read alsoTrump says “probably” sending U.S. troops from Germany to Poland

Duda, supported by the conservative Law and Justice party seeking a second five-year term, won the first round with 43.5 percent of the vote, followed by Trzaskowski with 30.5 percent.

The turnout in the first round reached 64.4 percent, which was considered high by Polish standards.

POLL – Orbán’s ruling party holds comfortable lead

orbán

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance would end up with 51 percent of the vote if an election were held this weekend, assuming the opposition parties ran their own individual candidate lists, pollster Nézőpont said on Thursday.

If the opposition parties ran candidates on a joint list, the ruling alliance would be backed by 56 percent of voters against a combined 30 percent support for the opposition, according to the Nézőpont Institute’s latest poll.

Party preference for Fidesz-KDNP has returned to levels polled early this year and stands at 51 percent among active voters, it said.

ORBÁN Viktor
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Meanwhile, the balance of power among the opposition has shifted somewhat with liberal Momentum becoming the leading force with 16 percent. They are followed by the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) with 11 percent and conservative Jobbik with 9 percent.

The Socialist-Párbeszéd alliance and the satirical Two-Tailed Dog party each have 4 percent support, while green LMP is backed by 3 percent and radical nationalist Mi Hazank by 1 percent, all below the 5 percent threshold these parties would need to win seats in parliament.

orbán
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“Setting up a joint list would work against the interests of the opposition parties since they would risk losing their identity, the possibility to form their own group in parliament and ultimately their future,” the institute said.

Nézőpont conducted the poll with a representative sample of 1,000 voting age adults between June 30 and July 2.