Party ratings: Centre falling behind Reform, approaching EKRE in popularity
Support for the coalition Centre Party continues to lag behind that for the Riigikogu election-winning opposition Reform Party, and is now coming up on that of coalition partner Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), it appears from the results of a survey commissioned by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and conducted by Norstat.
According to Norstat's latest aggregate results, 33.4 percent of respondents would currently cast their vote for the Reform Party. 20.1 percent, meanwhile, would vote for the Centre Party, while EKRE would have the support of 18 percent of respondents.
Nine percent of respondents would support the coalition Isamaa, while 8.8 percent would vote for the coalition Social Democratic Party (SDE) and 5.8 percent for the non-parliamentary Estonia 200.
The new government coalition, which was sworn in earlier this week, has the combined support of 47.1 percent of respondents, while the opposition is supported by 42.2 percent of respondents.
According to the aggregate results published by the institute last week, Reform commanded the support of 33.1 percent, the Centre Party 20.7 percent, EKRE 18.1 percent, Isamaa 9.3 percent and the SDE nine percent of voters. Estonia 200, which failed to meet the five-percent election threshold in the March 3 general election, was supported by 5.4 percent of respondents.
The incoming government coalition had the combined support of 48.1 percent and the opposition 42.1 percent of respondents.
According to the institute-commissioned survey, Reform is the most popular party across practically all socio-demographic groups; Centre outstrips them in popularity only among pension-aged voters, those whose income falls below €500 per month, ethnic Russians, and Ida-Viru County residents.
Reform, meanwhile, enjoys significantly more support — 40 percent or more — among those aged 25-34, residents of Harju County, those with higher education, and those with a monthly income of €1,500 or more.
Norstat's latest aggregate results reflect the results of surveys conducted from April 1-29, in the course of which a total of 4,007 voting-age Estonian citizens were surveyed. Surveys were conducted from April 1-8, April 8-15, and April 22-29, both via phone and online.
Editor: Aili Vahtla