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Roundup: New opinion poll points to four-way split in Spain's upcoming vote

Xinhua, April 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

A latest opinion poll has shown that Spain seems to be heading for a four-way split in the vote just six weeks ahead of regional and local elections and seven months from the next general election.

The poll complied by Metroscope for the "El Pais" newspaper indicated that four parties, namely the ruling Popular Party, the Socialists (PSOE), the recently formed Podemos and Citizens (Ciudadanos), are almost level pegging in voting intentions.

The poll came in the wake of March elections for the Andalusian regional assembly which saw the PSOE win in their traditional heartland, while the PP suffered a serious setback as Podemos and Citizens made gains with the United Left and Union Progress and Democracy losing ground.

The Metroscope poll showed the performances of Podemos and Citizens in Andalusia have turned them into a political reality for most Spaniards as Podemos leads voting intentions with 22.1 percent of the estimated vote.

This is below their January high of 28.2 percent, but support for the party has stabilized in the face of a concerted campaign against them by the traditional parties.

The PSOE occupies second place in the poll with 21.9 percent, slightly up on March's figures, but a long way from enjoying a bounce in popularity in the wake of the Andalusian vote.

The PP has recovered slightly from March's record low of 18.6 percent to climb to 20.5 percent (24 percent below the 44.6 percent they won in the 2011 general elections). Worryingly for the government, who are counting on the economic recovery to steer them over the line in the forthcoming elections, two thirds of Spaniards also say they believe the current economic climate has little to do with the policies of Mariano Rajoy's government, which also has to deal with a growing internal crisis in the wake of its defeat in Andalusia.

The PP is losing votes to the center-right Citizens whose popularity continues to climb and who now counts of the support of 19.4 percent of voters.

Also worth noticing is that the number of undecided voters has fallen from 18 percent at the end of last year to 8 percent now. That shows Spaniards are making up their minds in the run in to the two forthcoming votes; the problem is that although they have made up their minds, they don't agree with each other. Endit