Economy
Popularity of Hungarian PM Orbán and his party take unprecedented dive
In the wake of mass protests and subsequent cancelling of a planned tax on online traffic (‘Internet tax’) and the ban of six Hungarian government officials by Washington from entering the United States, the approval rating of Fidesz stands at only 26% among eligible voters, against 38% in October, Medián found in its latest survey conducted on an assignment by weekly HVG.
The results show that Fidesz has lost 900,000 potential voters over a one-month period, which is an unprecedented loss of popularity in Hungary since the change of regime.
Click on the links below for the results of popularity polls by Tárki and Ipsos from late November.The loss for Fidesz meant gains for the opposition Socialist Party. The approval rating of the MSZP rose to 12% from 8% among eligible voters, but most of those who had grown disappointed with Fidesz increased the group of undecided voters (36%). Medián found that 22% of those who - as far as they remember - voted for Fidesz in April this year, said they would not make that mistake now.
Far-right nationalist party Jobbik also boosted its approval rating to 15%, which is way above what its rivals Együtt-PM (4%), LMP (3%) and DK (3%) have.
Confidence in Fidesz politicians has also clearly abated over the last few weeks. The popularity rating of PM Orbán plunged 16 points, making him the biggest loser in this respect. The other members of the party did not emerge from the latest events unscathed, either.
Budapest mayor István Tarlós, Fidesz Vice-President Lajos Kósa and Fidesz caucus chief Antal Rogán saw their popularity rating drop 13 points; Economy Minister Mihály Varga and former Justice/Foreign Minister (now EU commissioner) Tibor Navracsics shed 12 points and even President of the Republic János Áder who is almost invisible in the political arena saw his popularity drop 10 points. Áder tops this ranking in November with a 40% rating, followed by Fidesz moderate Zoltán Pokorni and Orbán on the third place.
It also speaks volumes that only 31% of the respondents believe the Orbán cabinet is doing a good job, whereas a month ago 45% of them were of this view.
The results show that Fidesz has lost 900,000 potential voters over a one-month period, which is an unprecedented loss of popularity in Hungary since the change of regime.
Click on the links below for the results of popularity polls by Tárki and Ipsos from late November.The loss for Fidesz meant gains for the opposition Socialist Party. The approval rating of the MSZP rose to 12% from 8% among eligible voters, but most of those who had grown disappointed with Fidesz increased the group of undecided voters (36%). Medián found that 22% of those who - as far as they remember - voted for Fidesz in April this year, said they would not make that mistake now.
Far-right nationalist party Jobbik also boosted its approval rating to 15%, which is way above what its rivals Együtt-PM (4%), LMP (3%) and DK (3%) have.
Confidence in Fidesz politicians has also clearly abated over the last few weeks. The popularity rating of PM Orbán plunged 16 points, making him the biggest loser in this respect. The other members of the party did not emerge from the latest events unscathed, either.
Budapest mayor István Tarlós, Fidesz Vice-President Lajos Kósa and Fidesz caucus chief Antal Rogán saw their popularity rating drop 13 points; Economy Minister Mihály Varga and former Justice/Foreign Minister (now EU commissioner) Tibor Navracsics shed 12 points and even President of the Republic János Áder who is almost invisible in the political arena saw his popularity drop 10 points. Áder tops this ranking in November with a 40% rating, followed by Fidesz moderate Zoltán Pokorni and Orbán on the third place.
It also speaks volumes that only 31% of the respondents believe the Orbán cabinet is doing a good job, whereas a month ago 45% of them were of this view.
