Orbán Twice As Popular As Socialist Rival Botka
- 30 May 2017 8:00 AM
Twice as many Hungarian voters prefer Viktor Orbán, the incumbent prime minister, to his chief left-wing rival, Lázsló Botka, according to a survey by the Századvég Foundation. Fully 51% said they would prefer to see Orbán stay in his current position while 22% said they wanted Botka, the Socialist Party’s prime-minister candidate, to replace him.
Gábor Vona, leader of the radical nationalist Jobbik party, was preferred by 9% of Századvég’s sample. Altogether 13% were noncommittal. In a statement on Monday, the think-tank said that Botka was clearly the most popular candidate among left-wing voters but failed to appeal to centrists and fence-sitters.
According to the telephone survey carried out between May 20 and 28 with a representative sample of 1,000 voting-age adults, 53% would be less likely to choose Botka if they knew that he was opposed to the Hungarian border fence. Századvég found that 82% of Hungarians supported the fence.
Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.
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