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:
| Party | Current reading | Previous reading (25.11.2015) |
| SYRIZA | 19.5% | 18.4% |
| New Democracy | 20.8% | 14.9% |
| Golden Dawn | 5.8% | 5.6% |
| Democratic Alignment (PASOK/DIMAR) | 4.1% | 4.5% |
| KKE | 5.3% | 4.4% |
| The River | 2.1% | 2.2% |
| Independent Greeks | 2.9% | 2.1% |
| Union of Centrists | 2.4% | 2.3% |
| Popular Union | 1.7% | 1.9% |
| Other party | 2.7% | 3.5% |
| Undecided/abstain | 32.7% | 40.2% |
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.
