The cost of living and the scandal with -now ex New Democracy- MP Andreas Patsis cast a shadow at the ruling conservative party which sees its rates in in public opinion polls in decline.
Difference between ruling ND and main opposition left-wing SYRIZA dropped to 6.1% in a poll conducted by MRB for Open TV among 1000 people across the country between Oct 31-Nov 2, 2022. In the previous poll last month the difference was 6.8%.
According to the MRB poll, high prices are the biggest problem that concerns citizens at a rate of 51.9%. However, more than six out of ten citizens do not expect that the “household basket” will contribute to solving the problem (30.9% answer “definitely not” and 30.2% “probably not”). On the other hand, only 6.6% answered “definitely yes” to the relevant question, while 26.4% answered “probably yes”.
The government knows that the mother of the battles will be fought in the economic field and they are preparing for a difficult winter, on the way to the elections that will unexpectedly be held in the Spring, note newspaper ethnos.
The interest of ND is primarily directed towards the middle class, an audience that significantly contributed to the electoral victory of the party in summer 2019. However, it is a difficult audience, which is closely besieged by the other political players, the newspaper adds.
It is characteristic that in the question of whom the citizens trust in matters of income support for the small and middle class, the leader of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, gathers 34.7% and Kyriakos Mitsotakis has a percentage of 28.5% (it does not go unnoticed that 34.5% answer no one).
Based on the survey, the prime minister clearly leads the question of who the respondents trust in matters of development and job creation. At the same time, the question of who the citizens trust to deal with high prices and profiteering is also interesting. “No one” leads with 37%, while Tsipras has a marginal lead over Mitsotakis (30.6% and 29.4% respectively).
Patsis’ case heavy shadow
The business activities of MP Andreas Patsis casts a heavy shadow on ruling ND. The fact that the revelations about the MP concern the sensitive issue of “bad loans” seems to touch a significant part of public opinion.
It is typical that 11% of the respondents consider this case as the most important problem. In fact, 8:10 citizens who took part in the poll state that it is a very or fairly serious matter.
Moreover, 65.6% of respondents believe that New Democracy knew about Patsis business activities long before he was expelled from the party on October 25.
In contrast. only 13.8% stated that the ruling party did not know the MPs specific activities. In fact, one in two citizens who responded to the poll declares that the New Democracy did not act with quick reflexes and delayed to dismiss the politician.
Citizens’ top issues:
- Cost of living 51.9%
- Patsis 11%
- Unemployment 10.3%
- Greek-Turkish issues 7.6%
- Ukraine war 7.3%
- Crime 6.8%
- Migration 3.4%
According to MRB the difference between the ruling party and SYRIZA drops to 6.1% from 6.8% in the previous survey by the same company.
- New Democracy 29.1% (from 29.5% in the previous poll)
- SYRIZA 23% (from 22.7%)
- PASOK – KINAL 11.5%
- KKE 5%
- Greek Solution 4.5%
- MeRA25 3%
Meanwhile on Thursday, the head of the Financial Prosecutor’s Office ordered an investigation into the business activities of Patsis
The inquiry will be looking for evidence of tax evasion, money laundering or other crimes in any companies that Patsis or close relatives of his may have been involved in.
