Ratings: Isamaa still most supported, SDE and Reform equal
Opposition party Isama has seen a slight fall in support recently, while that for the Social Democrats (SDE) and the Reform Party have reached parity, according to a recent survey.
A total of 54.6 percent of respondents to the survey, conducted on a weekly basis by Norstat, pledged their support for one of the three opposition parties: Isamaa, the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) and the Center Party.
Meanwhile 38 percent of respondents said they support one of the coalition partners: The Reform Party, SDE or Eesti 200.
By party, Isamaa remained most supported at 28.4 percent, while Reform and SDE are neck-and-neck at 17.5 percent.
These "top" three are followed by EKRE at 13.8 percent support, while the Center Party polled at 12.3 percent.
Just 3 percent of respondents said their party of choice is Eesti 200, below the 5-percent vote threshold needed to win Riigikogu seats at a general election.
Support for Isamaa despite its still being the leading party by rating has fallen by 2.6 percentage points over the past five weeks.
Meanwhile the rise in support for the SDE, which had previously been in second place, has halted, bringing it to the same level as that for the Reform Party.
EKRE's support has risen by two percentage points over the same period.
Among non-parliamentary parties, 4.7 percent said they back the Parempoolsed (down from 5 percent a week earlier) while 0.9 percent said they would vote for the Greens (down from 1 percent).
Norsat conducts its poll on behalf of conservative think-tank the Institute for Societal Studies on a weekly basis, aggregating the results over the preceding four weeks.
The latest poll covers the period July 22 to August 19, when 4,000 Estonian citizens of voting age were quizzed, both online and over the phone and with the sample weighted to various socio-economic indicators.
Voters without a party preference were excluded from the above results.
When presenting its results, Norstat claims a margin of error in direct proportion to the party's support size.
So, Isamaa's results, as the largest party by support, come with a margin of error of +/-1.76 percent, compared with +/-0.67 percent for Eesti 200 as the least supported from among the six Riigikogu parties.
The next direct election in Estonia takes place in 2025, to all 79 local municipalities.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
