Ratings: SDE support highest in several years
While opposition party Isamaa remains most supported in Estonia, its rating has fallen in recent weeks, while the coalition Social Democratic Party (SDE) has seen its support continue to rise, a recent survey finds.
The poll, conducted on a weekly basis by Norstat on behalf of conservative think tank the Institute for Social Research (MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut), found that 37.7 percent of respondents supported one of the three coalition partners – the Reform Party, SDE or Eesti 200 – compared with 54.5 percent for the opposition parties at the Riigikogu: Isamaa, the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) and the Center Party.
By party, Isamaa polled at 29 percent, some way ahead of SDE on 17.8 percent. The latter has pulled ahead of Reform, in third place with a rating of 16.9 percent.
After these "top" three come EKRE on 12.9 percent, practically neck-and-neck with Center on 12.6 percent.
Eesti 200 polled at just 3 percent, below the 5-percent threshold needed to win seats in any electoral district under Estonia's d'Hondt system of proportional representation.
The non-parliamentary Parempoolsed party was ahead of Eesti 200, with a rating of 5.1 percent.
Isamaa's support has fallen by two percentage points over the past two weeks, while SDE's has risen by 1.5 percentage points over three weeks, and the party has reached its highest level of support since Norstat started conducting its surveys in their current form, in early 2019.
Reform's support has not significantly changed in recent weeks even as it has obtained a new leader and prime minister.
Norstat conducts its surveys on a weekly basis, aggregating the results over the preceding four weeks. The latest poll covered the period July 15-August 11, when just over 4,000 Estonian citizens of Riigikogu voting age (18 and over) were quizzed.
The survey used both over the phone and online methodologies, and the sample was weighted to various sociodemographic metrics, Norstat says.
Norstat claims a margin of error in direct proportion to the size of a party by support, so, for instance, results for Isamaa as the most supported party are at +/-1.75 percent compared with +/-0.66 percent for Eesti 200.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mait Ots
