By: Sara Kovač (Nova24tv)
he results of an opinion poll conducted by the Parsifal Agency for Nova24TV show that a little less than half of the respondents do not support the current government. If the elections were held on Sunday, the largest number (38.5 percent) of those who would definitely participate in the elections and who already know who they would vote for, would support the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje svoboda), followed by the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) (30.2 percent) and the Left party (Levica) (9.2 percent). The big surprise of the poll is the pensioners’ movement of Pavel Rupar, which, if it were to stand as a candidate, would cross the electoral threshold.
The March opinion polls show that support for the government of Robert Golob continues to fall. The Parsifal poll shows a similar trend, with 43.0 percent of the respondents supporting the government. Just under half (48.9 percent) of respondents do not support the current government – which is not surprising, given that we have seen no results from it to date, while the citizens’ wallets are getting thinner and thinner.
If the elections to the National Assembly were to be held this Sunday, the largest share of voters would still support the Freedom Movement – 24.6 percent. This is followed by SDS (19.2 percent), the Left (6.6 percent), the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi) (6.4 percent), the Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) (6.4 percent) and the Voice of Pensioners of Pavel Rupar (4.5 percent).
Among those who already know who they would vote for, the Freedom Movement would get 36.5 percent, SDS 28.6 percent and the Left party 9.8 percent. Among those who are sure they would go vote (score 5 out of 5), the Freedom Movement would get the most support (32.4 percent), followed by SDS (25.4 percent), the Left (7.8 percent), NSi (7.6 percent) and SD (7.1 percent). Among those who are certain they would go vote (score 5) and who already know who they would vote for, the most would vote for the Freedom Movement (38.5 percent), followed by SDS (30.2 percent) and the Left Party (9.2 percent).
The first 10 months of government have shown results
The latest opinion polls show that after the initial enthusiasm, the Slovenian public has woken up to a new reality and may have realised that things were not so bad under the previous government. The first ten months of a government are already enough time for the work of the new government to be assessed. The pre-election promises of a different policy meant not only a political reckoning with the cadres of the former government, but also with all the good laws and practices that had made the country more competitive. The destruction of long-term care and the lack of action against the costly situation have led to the dissatisfaction of a broad mass of pensioners with low pensions, as seen in the rise of support for the civil society movement the Voice of Pensioners, led by Pavel Rupar. In all other areas, too, the government is talking only of timetables and grand announcements of reforms that, in all likelihood, will never see the light of day. The most crucial areas, such as healthcare, long-term care, education, and the competitiveness of the economy, will not be sorted out even in this mandate, according to many analysts.
General demographic data on the participants in the survey
The survey was conducted between the 20th of March and the 23rd of March 2023, and it included 730 respondents, of which 49.9 percent were women. The average age of the participants is 53.8 years, and the standard deviation is 16.7 years. The majority of the respondents are from the oldest age group (48.3 percent), a slightly smaller share of participants belongs to the middle age group (32.8 percent), and the smallest number of respondents is from the youngest age group (18.8 percent). The majority of the respondents have completed high school (34.3 percent), followed by those with completed high education or higher (28.5 percent), 21.8 percent of respondents have finished vocational school, and 15.4 percent have either completed or have not completed primary school. The majority of the respondents currently reside in a small village or hamlet (53.3 percent), followed by those who live in the city (30.9 percent) or a smaller town (15.7 percent). Most of the respondents are from Central Slovenia (25.7 percent), followed by the Podravska (15.8 percent) and Savinjska (12.8 percent) region.