Health expert Sotiris Tsiodras most popular Greek, poll finds
Greece’s chief adviser and spokesman for the coronavirus epidemic is the most popular person in Greece right now, a recent poll has shown.
Conducted by Marc for Alpha TV and published on Wednesday, the poll found that 94.6 percent of respondents have a positive or quite positive view of the softly spoken infectious disease physician and professor Sotiris Tsiodras, whose daily televised updates are watched by most Greeks.
The second most popular person in Greece right now, with 84.3 percent, is the deputy minister for civil protection, Nikos Hardalias, who also appears in the daily 6 p.m. briefings on the course of the pandemic, which 66.7 percent of respondents said they tune into regularly.
The government’s admonitions against violating social distancing and self-isolation measures during the upcoming Easter holiday also appear to be working, as 91.6 percent of respondents said they will be staying at home on Easter Sunday and just 6 percent said they plan to have relatives over for the customary lunch.
As far as church is concerned, 90.2 percent of respondents said they are not planning to attend and only 3 percent said that they will observe the service for the resurrection of Christ on Saturday night, which will be broadcast by microphone outside the country’s closed churches.
The government’s response to the crisis has also bolstered the ruling party’s popularity, with 43.6 percent of respondents saying they would vote for incumbent New Democracy if elections were held now, against 20.3 percent who would back opposition leftist SYRIZA.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is also seen as the most suitable leader right now by 63.1 percent of respondents, against 19.1 percent who would back SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras.
