84% of Hungarian electorate think country is going the wrong way - poll

According to the pollster’s statement quoted by state newswire MTI, among voters with firm party preference (only one fourth of the eligible voters) the governing Fidesz party enjoys a 39% support; the Socialist Party’s (MSZP) voter base in this group is 26%; far-right Jobbik has a 22% support and green party LMP is backed by 9% of voters in this category. The Democratic Coalition established by former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, was chosen by 3% of the respondents.

According to the analysis, the voter base of Fidesz continued to shrink and reached 16% in January 2012 among eligible voters, further down from 18% in Dec11. The ratio of voters not willing to affiliate with any of the parties grew to 57% from 54% at the end of last year.

The opposition, however, was still unable to turn the governing party’s losses to its own advantage. Among eligible voters MSZP continues to enjoy (?) an 11% support, while the camp of Jobbik shrunk to 8% from 10% and LMP’s voter base grew to 4% from 3%. The Democratic Coalition held on to a 2% support.

Ipsos said the electorate has a terrible opinion equally about the government and the opposition parties. On a 0-100 scale they both scored 19 points.

Among the retired the MSZP has been leading in terms of popularity for months and it beat Fidesz 25% to 18% in January. In the 50-yr age group they tied (15% eacH0, while a rather unusually thing occurred among people in their 20s or early 30s: support for Fidesz and Jobbik was almost the same (18% and 15%, respectively).

As for the co-operation between opposition parties, January was the first month when their joint support was on a par with that of Fidesz (16% each). At the same time it is unlikely that they will be on the same platform in elections for a number of reasons. The supporters of LMP, for instance, remains distanced from the Socialists - only 5% of them said the MSZP was their 2nd favourite, while 18% of them stressed they would never vote for the party that was governing for eight years before Fidesz bulldozed them aside in 2010.

Among the supporters of the Socialists, however, the LMP is more popular - 16% of the respondents named the green party as their second choice and only 2% of them reject a possible team-up.

Ipsos noted that aversions are clearer than party preferences, with only 43% of those polled naming a preferred party and 57% of them naming party (parties) they are rejecting. 17% of the respondents could name only parties that they detest and none that they’d support.

The supporters of Fidesz gave a “C" to the government (53 points), while the performance of the cabinet scored 38 at the Socialists, 28 at LMP and 24 at Jobbik.

Ipsos also said that the contentment scores given by those without party preference can be regarded as a “sign of total despair". The government scored 15 and the opposition 16, which “reflects utter disappointment in the entire political elite."

• Tags:
• fidesz,
• economy,
• politics,
• jobbik,
• ipsos,
• mszp,
• lmp