Poll: SYRIZA Tops EU Elections, New Democracy National Elections

A recent poll for the Greek TV channel MEGA which was published Monday by Greek pollster company GPO points to a marginal victory by main opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party in the forthcoming European Parliament elections, while current ruling New Democracy party is revealed to win a possible national parliamentary election stand-off. The poll gives SYRIZA a 0.5 percent lead in the EU elections, while New Democracy gets a 1.4 percent lead in parliamentary elections; 51.8 percent of the sample said that it will cast its EU vote so as to contribute to the political stability of the country, while 38.7 percent will vote in order to overthrow the current government. Asked who they would vote for, 21.5 percent said SYRIZA and 21 percent New Democracy. Third ranks journalist Theodorakis’ party “To Potami” (8.5 percent), followed by Golden Dawn (7.5 percent), Greek Communists KKE (7 percent), Elia (6 percent), Independent Greeks ANEL (3.7 percent) and Democratic Left DIMAR (3 percent). Swing voters are around 13.8 percent. As for national elections, approval ratings of both major parties are to increase, giving New Democracy a 24.5-23.1 percent edge over SYRIZA, if national elections were to be held tomorrow. Greece’s parties’ general ranking also seems to have shifted, with KKE securing the third place (7.2 percent), followed by To Potami (7 percent), Golden Dawn (6.9 percent), Elia (5.9 percent), ANEL (4 percent) and DIMAR (2.8 percent). Swing voters are at 12.1 percent. Voters see Greek Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras as the most popular party leader reaching 41.2 percent, Fotis Kouvelis follows with 37.9%, Stavros Theodorakis at 37.5%, Alexis Tsipras with 36.9%, Dimitris Koutsoubas with 32.6%, Panos Kammenos with 28.8%, Evangelos Venizelos 25.1% and Nikos Michaloliakos with 10.9%. When asked who is best suited to hold the PM position, Mr. Samaras excels again with 44.6%, versus 29% who prefer Mr.Tsipras, while 24.7% of respondents answered “none of them.“ The poll also finds that two in three voters are still pessimistic regarding the country’s future, wishing for Greece to stay in the eurozone (69.4 percent) without though agreeing to any new bailouts (93 percent). Sixty-Seven percent however, believe that there will be a new bailout, while only 31.5 percent say that the country is exiting the crisis.

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