Norstat ratings: Reform party support slump lowest in five years
Support for the Reform Party is at a five-year low, according to a recent survey.
The poll, conducted by Norstat on behalf of conservative think tank the Institute for Societal Studies (MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut), found that support for the three Riigikogu opposition parties, Isamaa, the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) and the Center Party, stood at 58.9 percent of respondents.
Support for the three coalition partners together: Reform, the Social Democrats (SDE) and Eesti 200, meanwhile stood at 36.6 percent this week, Norstat says.
By party, Isamaa remains most-supported with a rating of 28.8 percent, followed by EKRE at 18.9 percent and the Reform Party at 16.7 percent.
As noted this is the lowest Reform have polled at for five years, according to Norstat.
The party's rating so far this year has hovered in the 16.7 to 18.2 percent range.
SDE lie in fourth place in the latest survey at 14.3 percent, followed by the Center Party, at 11.2 percent.
Norstat notes that after halting a fall in support, the position of SDE has somewhat improved, to one percentage point higher than the party rated two weeks ago.
Tuesday's successful motion of no confidence in Center leader Mihhail Kõlvart as Tallinn mayor will not be reflected in the Norstat ratings yet.
In sixth place was Eesti 200 with 5.8 percent of support, 0.8 percentage points above the threshold required to win seats in any electoral district at a Riigikogu election.
The latest Norstat poll quizzed 4,001 Estonian citizens of voting age (18 and over) in the period February 26 to March 25, over the phone and online, with the sample weighted to various socio-economic and demographic indicators.
Norstat conducts its polls on a weekly basis, aggregating the results over the preceding four weeks. Norstat claims a margin of error in direct proportion to a party's size by support, so for instance the margin of error for Isamaa, the most-supported party, is +/-1.67 percent, compared with +/-0.86 percent in the case of Eesti 200.
The next election is to the European Parliament, on June 9 this year.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mait Ots