Government-close pollster: opposition PM candidate’s popularity falling
The popularity of the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, Péter Márki-Zay, was at 33 percent in January, down by 3 percentage points since December and 9 percentage points since his nomination in October 2021, a survey published by the Századvéd Foundation on Friday shows.
According to the January phone survey of 1,000 adults, 42 percent of respondents living in Budapest expressed positive opinions of Márki-Zay, while 52 percent said they “do not like him”, the pollster said.
The opposition’s candidate who is also mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, in southeast Hungary, was popular with 35 percent of respondents in county seats and 32 percent of those living in smaller towns, while he was unpopular with 56 and 61 percent of voters in those localities, respectively, Századvéd said.
In villages, 26 percent of respondents approved and 65 percent disapproved of Márki-Zay, Századvéd said.
Századvéd attributed Márki-Zay’s waning popularity to conflicts between the candidate and the leftist alliance supporting him. “Setting up an opposition election lists has proven to be more challenging than originally anticipated,” it said.
Márki-Zay has also slammed highly popular government measures such as the re-introduction of the 13th month pension, utility price cuts and the cap on fuel prices, it added.
Source: MTI