According to a new opinion poll by Fréttabladid newspaper, 68.4 percent of participants said they did not support the Independence Party-Social Democrat coalition government, while 31.6 percent of participants declared their support for it.
In October, 41.3 percent of participants in a similar poll said they supported Iceland’s government while 58.8 percent declared that they were against it, Fréttabladid reports.
“I have complete sympathy for this,” said Minister of Industry Össur Skarphédinsson of the Social Democrats. “People are angry and anxious which is normal during a crisis. It is understandable that they vent their anger towards the government.”
Bjarni Benediktsson, MP for the Independence Party, said a strategy for Icelandic households and companies is underway. “I believe that when this picture [of the strategy] becomes clearer, the situation will change.”
“I believe it is only a matter of time before the government realizes that it is not working and has to accept its defeat,” said Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, leader of the largest opposition party, the Left-Greens.
Chairman of the Progressive Party, the second largest opposition party, Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir agrees. “These are dismal results for the government which is why the opposition has declared a vote of no confidence.”
Supporters of the Independence Party have the most faith in the government, 88.2 percent of the party’s voters declared their support for it. Among Social Democrat voters, 50.4 percent of participants said they supported the government.
Among those who did not want to reveal which party they vote for, 21.1 percent said they supported the government, but only 8.3 percent of Progressive Party voters and 3.8 percent of Left-Green voters.
According to the poll, the Social Democrats would enjoy the most support if elections would be held today; an electorate of 33.6 percent and 23 MPs elected to parliament compared to their current 18.
The Left-Greens have become the second-largest party with a support of 27.8 percent and 19 MPs elected to parliament compared to the nine MPs they had elected to parliament after the 2007 general elections.
Support for the Independence Party drops to 24.8 percent with 17 MPs elected to parliament, compared to the party’s current 25 MPs. Support for the Progressive Party is also dropping. Currently 6.3 percent would vote for the party and it would only obtain four MPs instead of their current seven.
Support for the Liberal Party is next to none, only 4.3 percent, which would not suffice for obtaining a representative in parliament. The party currently has four MPs. Only 3.3 percent of participants in the poll said they wouldn’t vote for any of the aforementioned parties.
Interestingly, only 49.9 percent of participants in the poll wanted to reveal which party they would vote for if elections would be held today. As much as 29.4 percent of all participants said they were undecided and 15.0 percent said they would hand in an empty ballot.
However, 88.3 percent of participants were willing to answer whether they supported the current government or not. The full size of the sample was 800 people.
