Poll finds ND’s lead over SYRIZA slips to 2.9 points

A new opinion poll suggests ruling New Democracy’s lead over main opposition SYRIZA has narrowed, with 2.9 percentage points now separating the parties.

The MRB poll for Open TV on voting intentions put New Democracy at 27.4% (down from 30.2%), SYRIZA at 24.5% (up from 24.3%) and PASOK-Movement for Change at 9% (-1).

The previous MRB/Open poll gave New Democracy a 5.9-point lead.

Support for the Communist KKE (5.1%) and ultra-nationalist Greek Solution (4.5%) remained stable.

MeRA25, the party of former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, saw its support increase by one point, to 3.9%.

Just under a fifth of voters (17.4%) said they were undecided.

Just over half of respondents (55.6%) said that the Tempe railway disaster will considerably affect the way they vote in the general election while two in five said it will not sway their vote.

When asked who was more suitable for the position of prime minister, 33.8% said Kyriakos Mitsotakis and 29.3% said Alexis Tsipras.

When asked who was to blame for the Tempe disaster, 46.8% said that the current government and all previous ones were, 13% that the New Democracy government is primarily responsible, 8.8% the stationmaster, 8.5% the Transport Ministry and the former minister Kostas A. Karamanlis, 5.6% previous governments, 5.3% railway network owner OSE and operator TRAINOSE, 3.6% the Railway Regulatory Authority and 2.5% Hellenic Train.

When asked which words best express the present and the future of the country for Greeks, 63.4% of respondents answered anger, 37.3% resignation/disappointment, 35% fear, 23.1% hope, 10.3% pride and 7.5% confidence.

Just over three in five respondents (62.9%) said they viewed the media’s coverage of the disasters negatively or very negatively.

A similar number (62.5%) evaluated the attitude of the government and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the aftermath of the disaster very or quite negatively.