Ratings: Isamaa support rose slightly this month as SDE's fell
Support for opposition party Isamaa rose slightly in September, according to a recent poll, while the coalition Social Democrats (SDE) has seen its rating decline over the past four weeks.
The survey, conducted by pollsters Norstat on behalf of NGO the Institute for Societal Research reveals that Isamaa is backed by 28.9 percent of respondents, compared with 18.8 percent for Reform and 13.4 percent for SDE.
The Center Party polled at 12.9 percent, according to Norstat, followed by the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) with 12.3 percent.
Center has overtaken EKRE in the ratings over the past week, making it currently the fourth-most supported party, per Norstat.
Eesti 200 polled the lowest from among parties represented at the Riigikogu, picking up 4.5 percent of support.
Since the end of summer Isamaa's support had been falling, only to rise again slightly from the start of this month – by 1.3 percentage points.
Reform's support has remained relatively stable, and there is currently a gap of 10.1 percentage points separating the prime minister's party from Isamaa.
SDE's rating fell by 1.1 percentage points over the last week and has dropped by a total of 4.4 percentage points over the preceding four weeks.
The gap between SDE and Reform, which was relatively narrow during the summer, now stands at 5.4 percentage points.
Of the non-parliamentary parties, 4.3 percent of respondents to Norstat's latest poll said they supported Parempoolsed; 1.9 percent picked the Estonian Nationalists and Conservatives (ERK), while both the Estonian Greens (Rohelised) and the pro-Kremlin KOOS party polled at 1.2 percent.
Overall, the three coalition parties, Reform, Eesti 200 and SDE, were supported by 36.7 percent of respondents to the latest Norstat poll, compared with 54.1 percent for the three opposition parties – Isamaa, EKRE and Center.
Norstat conducts its polls every week and aggregates these results over the preceding four weeks. The latest survey period ran from August 26 to September 23 inclusive, and 4,002 Estonian citizens of Riigikogu voting age (18+) were quizzed.
Norstat uses a combined online and 'phone methodology and says it weights its sample to various socio-demographic indicators.
Norstat claims a margin of error in direct proportion to the size of the party by support, so Isamaa as the most supported party had a margin of error of +/- 1.72 percent compared with +/- 0.79 percent for Eesti 200 as the least supported of the Rigiikogu parties.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
