Mediana: Bulgarians want new elections! GERB- 22.9%, PP is collapsing -15.6%, “THE LEFT!” approaches 4%, the others maintain positions – 2024-03-14 04:35:14

/ world today news/ “Mediana” agency, in its December research on socio-political attitudes, concludes that Bulgarians are in favor of new elections and against the management of the “assembly”

The PP-DB is gradually collapsing and is already 2% behind “Vazrazhdane”, but no party is showing any particular growth. GERB falls by another percentage, DPS, Vazrazhdane and BSP are at their traditional values, ITN slightly increases its electoral potential, the “Left” approaches the 4% barrier, but is still below it.

Basic extracts

• The rating of Nikolay Denkov’s government is unprecedentedly low. The average score (on a six-point scale) of this government is “Average – 3.1”, which is the lowest value for a government ever measured by the Mediana agency.

• The reason is the drastic divergence between public attitudes and moods and the actions and intentions of the rulers – both in relation to the Eurozone (the majority of people are against it), weapons for Ukraine (62% are against it), the markedly confrontational attitude towards Russia (and the transformation of Bulgaria in a front-line country with the deployment of foreign troops and facilities on its territory – 47% are against it), towards President Rumen Radev, the doubts about playing with energy (domestic consumers on the free market, reactors for Ukraine, the battle for “Lukoil”). And all this against the background of the difficult economic situation of a huge part of the population – one fifth of adults in the country save on heating, do not buy clothes, cannot buy the medicines that the doctor prescribes for them…

• All this affects to varying degrees (but invariably negatively) the image of the management of the so-called “Assembly”. In just six months, the “Assembly” from an unpleasant, but still acceptable compromise to end the political crisis (and the series of early elections), turns into an unacceptable government for a significant part of the voters – 51% of them consider it harmful for the country, against 18% who see it as useful.

• Something more! If until recently public opinion was inclined to accept the idea – “Better, after all, some government than new elections!”, now we are observing a serious reversal of these attitudes in the direction – “Better new elections than this government!” – 27% believe that it is better for the “Assembly” to continue to rule in one form or another, while 41% already consider this unacceptable and prefer new elections.

• This does not mean that society has found a clear political alternative (party) to pin its hopes on. The PP-DB is gradually collapsing and is already 2% behind “Vazrazhdane”, but no party is showing any particular growth. GERB falls by another percentage, DPS, Vazrazhdane and BSP are at their traditional values, ITN slightly increases its electoral potential, the “Left” approaches the 4% barrier, but is still below it.

• We should make the caveat that this relatively static picture of electoral attitudes, which both this and other sociological studies provide, is somewhat deceptive. Many interpret it as a potential to preserve the status quo. In fact, the data show that the tension is growing, intolerance towards the management of the “Assembly” reaches enormous values, but sociological research still does not see the direction in which this tension will break out. The voters themselves do not see this direction yet and prefer to swear rather than vote. However, the pressure is certainly growing and when it “breaks out” it will not be in the direction of maintaining the status quo of this administration.

electoral attitudes

„AND IF THERE WERE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS TODAY, NOW, WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?”

% of those who said they would vote

*Pitems with support below 1%

rating of politicians

„IN YOUR OPINION, WHICH OF THESE POLITICIANS (RESPECTIVE OF YOUR POLITICAL PREFERENCES AND LIKES) WOULD YOU SAY ARE REALLY GOOD POLITICIANS?’

% answered

“yes, he is a good politician”

ASSESSMENT OF GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE

„WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT OF NIKOLAI DENKOV ON THE SIX-POINT SYSTEM?”

AVERAGE SCORE ON THE SIX-POINT SYSTEM:

MEDIUM 3,1

„DO YOU THINK THE GOVERNMENT OF NIKOLAI DENKOV PROTECTS THE INTERESTS OF THE COUNTRY OR ON THE CONTRARY – DOES THE COUNTRY SUBJECT TO FOREIGN INTERESTS?”

ATTITUDE TO “THE ASSEMBLY”

„IN YOUR OPINION, IS THE “ASSEMBLE” WHICH PP-DB, GERB AND DPS CREATED IS MORE USEFUL FOR THE COUNTRY OR IS IT MORE HARMFUL FOR BULGARIA?”

% from everyone

* The research was conducted in the period – 07-13 December 2023 with 978 people (18+ years) through a direct standardized interview and is representative of the adult population of the country. The study is a research project of the MEDIANA agency and was realized with its own funds.