By: M. B.
The story with so-called new faces is evidently repeating itself. Support for the Gibanje Svoboda (GS) is at its lowest ever, at 12.4 percent. According to Delo, it has halved since last September. Prime Minister Robert Golob has found himself at the bottom of the popularity rankings among politicians, as shown by the November survey from the Mediana Institute for Delo. Meanwhile, more than 57 percent of survey participants rated the government’s work as negative.
As the newspaper reports, the fiasco surrounding the announcement and subsequent cancellation of the consultative referendum on the second nuclear plant block is most evident within the largest ruling party. Currently, only 12.4 percent of respondents would support it, which is four percentage points less than a month ago (16.6 percent) and the lowest the party has ever recorded in the barometer.
Support for GS falls, SDS leads
Compared to last September, support for the GS has practically halved (24.3 percent), with an even greater difference compared to December 2022, as the current result is only a little over a third of the 34.1 percent from then, Delo adds.
As has been the case for the past 13 months, SDS remains at the top of the rankings with 21.6 percent (22.4 percent in October), with a decrease in its “repulsiveness”, meaning the percentage of respondents who would certainly not vote for it, from 41.9 to 38.6 percent. Almost 26 percent of respondents would certainly not vote for the GS, the survey also showed.
In third place is SD, which six percent of respondents would choose, down from 6.5 percent in October. Among parliamentary parties, only Levica improved its result, with five percent of respondents choosing it, which is 1.4 percentage points more than the previous month. NSi would receive the votes of 4.4 percent of respondents, down from 4.9 percent the month before.
They are followed by Vesna with 3.9 percent support, SLS with 3.4 percent, Resni.ca with 2.2 percent, the Pirate Party with 1.2 percent, while Naša Prihodnost, Naša Dežela, and Konkretno each recorded 0.2 percent support, according to the Delo survey.
Additionally, the share of undecided voters increased to over 30 percent, with more than a quarter unsure which party they would vote for, and almost six percent indicating they would not vote for any.
Support for the government also falls
The survey showed that the assessment of the government’s work also fell, from 2.48 in October to 2.26. Only once in this term has the score been lower, in March (2.23), which matches the lowest score ever recorded by the last Janša government. More than 57 percent of respondents gave the government a negative rating (46.3 percent in October), with 31 percent even rating it very negatively, a little over a quarter rating it neutrally, and just under 15 percent rating it positively, with less than two percent giving it a very positive rating.
Support for Janez Janša increased
Delo also reports that respondents were considerably more critical of politicians this month, as almost everyone in the rankings received lower scores than in October. The only exception is SDS leader Janez Janša, who climbed from the bottom of the rankings by seven places to 13th. Prime Minister and GS leader Robert Golob moved in the opposite direction, with respondents giving him the lowest rating this time.
The top of the popularity ranking remained unchanged, with respondents continuing to favour President Nataša Pirc Musar, followed by Minister of Economy and SD President Matjaž Han, European Parliament member Vladimir Prebilič, and now independent MP Anže Logar. The Speaker of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, remained in fifth place for the third month in a row, according to the Delo survey. Levica coordinator and Minister of Culture Asta Vrečko ranked 14th, while NSi President Matej Tonin ranked 16th.
The research was conducted by the Institute for Market and Media Research, Mediana, on behalf of Delo between November 4th and 7th on a representative sample of 722 adult residents of Slovenia.
The “new faces” story repeats
The story of so-called “new faces” is evidently repeating itself. The background sponsors and their public opinion advisors have already crossed Robert Golob off the list. This is confirmed by the recent criminal complaint against Golob, which the police sent to the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office. With this, they have put a noose around his neck, which they can tighten if needed. Golob is thus becoming a “political corpse”, as the saying goes.
The godfathers from the background are already beginning to launch “new faces”. One of them is the former mayor of Kočevje and now a member of the European Parliament, Vladimir Prebilič. However, it is questionable whether he is their only choice, as he appears somewhat “foolish” and immature…