Survey shows New Democracy takes minor lead over SYRIZA

The election of Kyriakos Mitsotakis as the president of New Democracy two weeks ago has given the main opposition party a boost, allowing it to take a minor lead over the governing SYRIZA party, according to a Kapa Research survey:

Despite New Democracy’s recovery in the polls though, SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras (34.8%) still has a greater approval rating that Kyriakos Mitsotakis (33.2%). Additionally, the majority of respondents (64.2%) believe that the current government must be given more time, rather than carry out early elections (27.3%).

Additionally, they survey shows that the people do not trust a New Democracy-based government (22.5%) to pass the bailout-mandated measures without major reactions, as much as they trust a government spearheaded by SYRIZA (62.1%). The survey however showered that a ND-led government (42.1%) has greater chance of implementing the measures than a SYRIZA-led coalition (32.3%).

Regarding the country’s social security system, 51.2% believe that a reform must be carried out even if sacrifices are required, while 39.1% want the system to remain as is. The vast majority of respondents (72.7%) hold New Democracy and PASOK responsible for the dramatic situation of the pension system, while 17.9% blames the current SYRIZA/Independent Greeks coalition. Furthermore, the survey shows that the opposition parties must participate in the debate over the pension reform (74.3%) and that the reform will go through Parliament without the government suffering any losses (71.4%).

Finally, when asked about the taxation of farmers, 68.4% of respondents believe that they must pay taxes just like all the other taxpayers (as set out in the summer agreement reached between Greece and its creditors), while 28.8% believe that farmers must be taxed differently.