New poll gives opposition ND big lead over SYRIZA, in name talks too
A public opinion poll published by Pulse late on Tuesday night saw incumbent leftist SYRIZA trailing 10 percent behind the main opposition New Democracy party.
The poll, which was conducted for Action24 TV, found that 29 percent of respondents would vote for conservative New Democracy if elections were held now, against 19 percent who would back SYRIZA.
Socialist PASOK came in third place with 8 percent, followed closely by neo-Nazi Golden Dawn with 7.5 percent. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) would receive its rather steady 5 percent of the vote if elections were imminent.
The government’s right-wing nationalist coalition partner, Independent Greeks, would not muster the 3 percent it would need to enter Parliament after scoring just 1.5 percent, and neither would the Union of Centrists, who barely registered in the rankings with 1 percent.
The poll also addressed the controversial issue of ongoing name talks with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
On this subject, 59 percent of respondents said they are opposed to the idea of a composite name that would contain the term “Macedonia” and 35 percent said they would support such a solution, which is the direction towards which the government is currently leaning.
A majority of 65 percent also has a positive outlook on a large rally being planned in Athens on Sunday to oppose the direction of the name talks, and 72 percent believe that FYROM’s name is “very” or “quite” important to Greece.
Moreover, 32 percent said they consider New Democracy President Kyriakos Mitsotakis as more suitable to lead negotiations with Skopje over the issue than Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who garnered 24 percent of support.
