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Latest poll puts new left-wing Podemos party ahead in Spain

Xinhua, January 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

A new opinion poll published by radio station Cadena Ser places the recently created left-wing party Podemos at the head of voter intentions in Spain.

The poll was carried out by the company My Word and gives Podemas 27.5 percent of the votes should a general election be held in Spain right now.

According to the poll, the governing Popular Party would take 24.6 percent of the vote, virtually 20 percent less than the 44 percent it won in the November 2011 general elections, while the decline of the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) appears to be confirmed as they dip below the 20 percent mark to hold just 19 percent of the vote.

More significantly, Spain's two traditional parties together poll only 43.6 percent of the total vote, lending support to the theory that Podemos has broken the traditional two-party structure in Spain.

The fall in support for the PSOE can be explained by its voters switching to Podemos. New PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez is seeing the party polling almost 10 percent less than its disastrous showing in the 2011 election.

The United Left (IU) has also lost a large share of their voters to Podemos and would poll just 3.7 percent in a general election, while the center party UPyD and Ciudadanos (Citizens; a Catalan party, which has moved into the national scenario) would take 5.5 percent and 5 percent of the vote respectively.

As well as taking votes from traditional left-wing parties and even convincing 10 percent of former PP voters to jump ship, Podemos has also succeeded in capturing the support of people who had not previously voted or handed in a blank vote, with 36 percent of people now admitting this tactic, saying they would vote for the party led by Pablo Iglesias.

The poll also shows that Iglesias is the favored prime ministerial candidate for next November's elections with 44 percent of those asked saying he would be the best leader. Sanchez is second with 32 percent, while current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has the support of just 23 percent of Spaniards.

The Cadena Ser poll comes five days after an opinion poll in the newspaper La Razon which saw the PP leading, with the PSOE and Podemos in second and third place respectively. The two polling results highlights that 2015 will see a tense race in Spain ahead of the local elections in May and the general elections next fall. Endit