The research, conducted by pollsters Norstat on behalf of conservative think tank the Institute for Social Research ( MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut) found that a total of 48.1 percent of respondents supported either of the two coalition partners, Reform and Center, while 36.2 percent picked one of the three opposition parties – EKRE, Isamaa and the Social Democrats (SDE).

Reform remained the most popular and even saw a rise in support of 0.6 percentage points, to 31 percent. Reform had seen a dip in mid-summer but is now starting to pick up again, according to Norstat.

EKRE seems to be moving in the opposite direction. After a long trend for a rise in support going back to the beginning of June, the party plateaued over the past couple of weeks then saw a steep fall in support, by nearly two percentage points, to 22.6 percent.

Center remained relatively stable in support at 17.1 percent, as did Eesti 200 (12.6 percent), SDE (7.9 percent) and Isamaa (5.7 percent). 

In just over a month, the Reform Party has been able to boost its support somewhat. Whereas at the end of June and the beginning of July the prime minister's rating was its lowest ebb in more than two years (28.2 percent), the current support is 2.8 percentage points higher than a month ago. 

Norstat conducts its polls weekly and aggregates them over a four-week period, July 20 to August 16. A total of just over 4,000 Estonian citizens of voting age were polled. 

The next direct elections are to the local municipalities, on October 17.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!