The Independence Party is losing support nationwide, according to a new opinion poll undertaken by Capacent Gallup for Morgunbladid daily and national broadcaster RÚV April 8 to 14. It now ranks third with support of 23.3 percent of respondents.
Chairman of the Independence Party Bjarni Benediktsson. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
Morgunbladid reports that a quarter of those who voted for the Independence Party in the 2007 parliamentary elections are going to vote for either of the current government parties, the Social Democrats or the Left-Greens, in the upcoming elections on April 25.
Another recent poll, undertaken by Fréttabladid daily, measured an increase in support for the Independence Party despite news on the party accepting unusually high donations from Landsbanki Bank and FL Group in 2006 breaking shortly before Easter.
The Gallup poll concludes that support for the Independence Party dropped by 2.5 percent from the last poll, undertaken April 1 to 7. If that would be the results of the elections, the party would earn 16 seats in parliament, nine fewer than after the elections in 2007, ruv.is reports.
The Social Democrats remain Iceland’s largest party, as for the past month. However, support for the party decreased slightly from the last poll and currently measures 30.7 percent. That would earn the party 21 seats in parliament, compared to 18 after the 2007 elections.
The other government party, the Left-Greens, is on the rise with a two percent increase from the previous poll. The party currently ranks second with a 28.2 percent approval rating and would earn 19 MPs, ten more than in 2007.
Support for the Progressive Party has also increased slightly, by 1.3 percent. Roughly 11 percent of respondents declared their support for the party, which would earn it seven MPs, the same as after the 2007 elections.
Other parties rank below five percent and would not receive any seats in parliament, although the Public Movement, a new candidacy, is approaching the five percent mark with the support of 4.4 percent of respondents.
The Fréttabladid poll indicated that 4.9 percent of voters intended to vote the Public Movement.
According to the Gallup poll, the Liberal Party (which currently has representatives in parliament) ranks higher than the new Democratic Movement again with 2.0 percent, which only received an approval rating of 0.4 percent.
“It is primarily […] the same picture that we’ve had for the previous two or three months,” commented political scientist Ólafur Th. Hardarson to Morgunbladid on the results of the poll.
“There are some minor fluctuations but the government parties have a clear majority,” Hardarson added. “The biggest news is that the Public Movement has been gaining support and is approaching the five percent minimum.”
Gallup contacted almost 2,500 voters at random and 67 percent responded.
Click here to read about the results of another recent poll.
