Somewhat contradictory results of the latest monthly poll.
Although HDZ has increased its rating, Andrej Plenković’s government has lost support in its second monthly poll. SDP is falling further behind HDZ, while support for MOST is stable, according to a regular monthly poll conducted by Promocija Plus in the period between 2 and 5 January, reports tportal.hr on January 6, 2017.
If parliamentary elections took place in early January, HDZ would be the relative winner, with the support of 32.5 percent of voters (31.3 percent in December), while SDP would be second with 24.7 percent of votes (25.2 percent in December). The two largest parties would be followed by MOST with 8.8 percent, and Živi Zid with 4.7 percent of votes. HNS is fifth (3.5 percent), followed by HSS (2.1 percent), Pametno (2 percent), and smaller parties.
HDZ president and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is the most popular politician in Croatia, with 23.9 percent of voters selecting him as the most positive person in Croatian politics. He is followed by President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic (13 percent), “nobody” (12.9 percent), SDP president Davor Bernardić (7.3 percent), HNS candidate for Zagreb Mayor Anka Mrak Taritaš (7 percent), and Živi Zid MP Ivan Pernar (5 percent).
About 28 percent of citizens support the current direction of the country (32.3 percent in December), while 60.1 percent of respondents believe that Croatia is heading in the wrong direction (55.2 percent in December). The largest share of optimists is present among HDZ voters (70 percent), while just 36.8 percent of MOST voters believe that Croatia is heading in the right direction. SDP voters are quite pessimistic, with just 15.8 percent of them sharing the optimism.
The level of support for the government’s policies stands at 56.8 percent (63.4 percent in December), while 26.4 percent (21.9 percent in December) of respondents do not support them.
The average mark for the Andrej Plenković’s government, on the 1-5 scale, was 2.60 (2.62 in December). The government received highest marks from HDZ (3.67) and MOST (3.13) voters, and lowest from Pametno (2.0) and Živi Zid (2.13) voters. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović received the average mark of 3.15 (3.22 in December), while Parliament was traditionally the worst with the average mark of 2.35 (2.44 in December).
Asked about the most important topic or event in December, most respondents selected the government’s announcement about the purchase of MOL’s shares of INA (25.0 percent), followed by terrorist attacks in Germany and Turkey (16.0 percent), emigration from Croatia (13.2 percent) and cases of infected meat (11 percent). Tax changes were the most important event for seven percent of respondents.
