"July saw the popularity gap between Hungary's leading opposition party Fidesz and the governing Socialists widen by a slight amount at the expense of the latter, the latest opinion poll by Századvég-Forsense revealed.Despite its recent pullout fron the government and newly elected leader, liberal party SZDSZ has failed to improve approval rates and is currently favored by only 1% of all voters, according to the survey.
Backing for Fidesz increased by a statistically insignificant 2 percentage points in July, with supporters accounting for 27% of all voters in the survey. Meanwhile, approval rating for the Socialists dropped by 1 percentage point to 13%. Support for both SZDSZ and conservative party MDF is currently hovering around 1%.
At 36%, the ratio of voters with a clear party preference within the entire voter population has remained unchanged since June. Were the next general elections held next Sunday, 65% of assured voters would support Fidesz, as opposed to the 25% Socialist voter base within this group. The Liberals and MDF both enjoy 3% support among citizens with a decided party preference.
Assessment of the single-handed Socialist government since the Liberal pullout remains predominantly negative in the public eye, with 65% of respondents dissatisfied with government acticity as opposed to the 56% who judged opposition unfavorably. The ranks of those equally unhappy with both sides have slightly expanded over the course of the past four weeks to 32% of all voters. The number of voters who expressed dissatisfaction only with the Socialists has remained unchanged at 33%, while the faction displeased by the opposition only shrank by 2 percentage points to 24%.
47% of survey participants would prefer to see the dissolution of the current minority government, which has the confidence of one-third of voters. Given a choice between opposition leader Viktor Orbán and current premier Ferenc Gyurcsány, 36% of the respondents said they saw Orbán as a more suitable candidate for head of state, which compares with 26% approval for Gyurcsány. Nearly a third of all voters deems neither of these politicians suitable for the role of Prime Minister.
Public opinion remains strongly divided on whether the Hungarian Socialist Party will be able to govern the country single-handedly up till the 2010 general elections. As opposed to earlier polls, now there is a stable majority of voters that believe the minority cabinet will stay in the long term rather than fail."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
23.07.2008