Alex Trelinski
A respected monthly opinion poll is spelling potentially serious problems for the left-of-centre coalition led by Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez.
Sanchez recently said that Spain will hold a general election in early December but poll numbers from the Sociological Research Centre(CIS) suggests that the PSOE-Podemos coalition could struggle to remain in power.
The main opposition party, the conservative Partido Popular(PP), under new leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo is breathing down the neck of the socialist PSOE in the latest CIS survey.
The PSOE stand on 30.3% with the PP on 28.7%.
The April study previously showed the best PP rating during the period of the current government- standing at 27.2%.
Feijoo replaced Pablo Casado who resigned over a smear campaign authorised by him against the Madrid region PP president, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
Crucially the PSOE’s current coalition partner, Podemos, has dropped to just 9.6%- its worst rating since July 2021 when it stood at 10.7%.
The far-right Vox party, that had seen falling numbers since Feijoo took over, has bounced back 2.2% from April’s rating to 16.6%.
On sheer percentage terms, and even taking minor parties into account, the CIS figures indicate a higher probability of a PP-Vox government(45.3% total) as opposed to the PSOE and Podemos(39.9%).
The centrist Ciudadanos party has been virtually ‘wiped out’ in the poll, gaining an approval rating of just 2%.
The May CIS survey was based on around 4,000 telephone interviews carried out in the midst of a political storm caused by the Pegasus spyware case which saw Catalan pro-independence politicians bugged.
A key indicator of the political landscape will be next month’s Andalucia regional election, with the PP expected to continue as the main ruling party in an area that was a PSOE stronghold.
READ MORE:
- PROFILE: Who is Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, the new leader of Spain’s conservative Popular Party?
- LATEST: Embattled PP leader Pablo Casado bows out of Spain’s parliament
