Norstat survey: Party ratings stable since start of the year
The ratings of political parties have been stable since the beginning of the year, with the top three made up of the Reform Party, the Center Party and Eesti 200 with clear gaps between the ratings, results of a survey from the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and Norstat Eesti AS show.
The latest results, published early on Wednesday morning, show the Reform Party is supported by 28.4 percent, the Center Party by 21.6 percent and the non-parliamentary Eesti 200 by 16.4 percent of voting-age citizens.
None of the parties' ratings have changed by more than 0.5 percentage points week on week, which means that the ratings continue to be in the same as before Christmas.
The opposition Reform Party, whose support was on a downward trend until Christmas, has maintained the top spot, commanding a 6.8 percentage point lead over Center.
The top three are followed by the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) with 14.8 percent, the Social Democratic Party with 8.2 percent and Isamaa with 6.1 percent.
The three parties of the now-outgoing coalition government - Center, EKRE and Isamaa - are supported by altogether 42.5 percent of voters and those of the opposition by 36.6 percent.
Researcher Martin Mölder said that, once again, no significant changes can be observed in the ratings of Estonia's political parties week on week. The only two parties whose ratings have displayed some trend in the past three weeks are Social Democrats and EKRE, whose support has been slowly moving higher.
"But these trends have been too small and short-term to be dwelt upon at any length. At the present moment this stability is somewhat surprising, as we have a politically hot week behind us in connection with the draft resolution on the marriage referendum and it could be presumed that the handling of the draft resolution and the proposals to amend of dubitable value submitted to it nevertheless will have a certain impact in the end," Mölder said.
The results seem to confirm additionally that the rapid rise in support for Eesti 200 has stopped at about 16.5 percent, according to Mölder.
"Meanwhile, an interesting situation has arisen on the current level of support where among male and ethnic Estonian voters, for instance, three parties are running neck and neck after the Reform Party with equal, or at least statistically indistinguishable rates of support. However, the Center Party continues to be the only party still that is able to compete with the Reform Party in certain voter groups," Mölder added.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino
