Voters’ minds made up for Euro polls, survey finds

Greeks have overwhelmingly decided who they are going to vote for in the upcoming European elections, according to the first public opinion poll conducted on the issue by Pulse and published on Monday.

Carried out on behalf of Skai TV on April 18-20 on a sample of 1,010 Greek voters, the poll found that 82 percent of respondents are “very” and “reasonably” certain of who they will support next month, with just 3 percent expressing serious uncertainty.

There were few surprises in terms of voter preferences, with conservative opposition New Democracy maintaining a nine-point lead over ruling leftist SYRIZA, at 31 against 22 percent.

Center-left Movement for Change (KINAL) and neo-Nazi Golden Dawn shared third place with 7.5 percent each, followed by the Communist Party (KKE) at 5.5 percent – just enough to squeeze into the House.

The results of Pulse’s poll on the issue of this year’s national election did not quite mirror the same trends, as both New Democracy and SYRIZA were slightly more popular, at 32.5 and 23 percent respectively.

In third place, meanwhile, KINAL edged out Golden Dawn with 8 percent against the far-right party’s steady 7.5 percent. KKE was stable at 5.5 percent. None of the other parties look likely to gather the 3 percent needed to enter the Greek Parliament.

New Democracy is also far ahead when it comes to the prospect of a victory, with 60 percent of respondents foreseeing a win for the conservative party in the national election. The opposition’s leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is also viewed as a more suitable prime minister by 36 percent, against 26 percent who support the incumbent Alexis Tsipras.

Also of interest is the fact that SYRIZA stands to lose 14 percent of its voters directly to New Democracy and 7 percent to KINAL.