INSCOP: 27.8pct would vote with PSD; 26.7pct with PNL in EP elections; 30pct haven't decided

A share of 27.8 percent of the Romanians expressing a voting option would vote with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in the elections to the European Parliament, 26.7 percent would vote for the National Liberal Party (PNL), 10 percent for the Save Romania Union (USR), 9.2 percent for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and 7 percent for PLUS, shows an INSCOP poll commissioned by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and conducted in the period between 21 January and 5 February 2019.

"Of the Romanians expressing a voting option, namely 54.5 percent of the sample, 27.8 percent intend to vote with the PSD and 26.7 percent with the PNL, followed by the USR with 10 percent, the ALDE with 9.2 percent and PLUS with 7 percent. It's worth mentioning that the poll started prior to the completion of the negotiations between the USR and PLUS for the formation of the Alliance 2020, which is why the two parties were tested separately. Also exceeding the threshold would be the Pro Romania Party, which is quoted at 6.6 percent, and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), which would get 5.1 percent. Only 4.4 percent of the respondents expressed their intention to vote with the People's Movement Party (PMP), while 1.5 percent opted for the National Christian Democratic Peasant Party (PNTCD) and 0.8 percent for DEMOS," a press release sent to AGERPRES informs.

According to the poll, when asked who would they vote for with if elections to the European Parliament were to be organised next Sunday, 29.7 percent of the respondents said they didn't decide, 11.7 percent firmly stated they wouldn't vote, while 4.1 percent mentioned that they don't know or didn't respond to this question.

"Compared to November 2018, the PSD's percentages remain almost unchanged (27.4 percent in November, compared to 27.6 percent in January-February), while the PNL gains 2.6 percent of voting intentions. No major developments were recorded for the other parties," the release mentions.

The Romanians' availability to vote in the European Parliament elections in May was measured on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 meaning "I will certainly not vote" and 10 meaning "I will surely vote."

Thus, 11.7 percent of the respondents chose the first version ("I will certainly not vote"), 3.7 percent version no.2, 4.4 percent - version no.3, 3.7 percent - version no.4. Version no.5 was chosen by 7.9 percent of the respondents, while for version no. 6 opted 5.4 percent of the Romanians, 7.5 percent opted for version no. 7 and version no. 8 was chosen by 11.2 percent. At the same time, 10.3 percent of the respondents chose version no. 9, while only 26.1 percent said they would definitely vote. 8.2 percent were non-responses.

"Compared to November 2018, there is a 2.9 percent decrease in those who say they will certainly not vote, in the context in which as the elections to the European Parliament are getting close, they should increase the interest for the May elections," the authors of the poll concluded.

According to the same sources, the voting options published in the sociological survey reflect the voters' opinions reported to a representative sample of nearly 55 percent of the voting population who is resident in Romania. In the European Parliamentary elections of May 2019, the intention to vote will be further influenced by many factors such as political parties activity, public affairs events, the final list of candidates that each party will present, the actual voter turnout on the day of the vote or the volume of votes coming from outside the country, the press release mentions.

The poll was made based on a questionnaire applied by the interviewers at the respondents' home. The volume of the multi-layered, probabilistic type sample was 1080 persons, representative for the non-institutionalised population of Romania, aged 18 and over. The maximum permissible error of the data is ą 3 percent, at a confidence level of 95 percent. AGERPRES (RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Adina Panaitescu)