Not surprisingly, Croats are not very happy with their politicians.
The CRO Demoskop monthly poll on social and political preferences, conducted at the beginning of September (1 to 4 September), reveals several interesting findings. The most interesting is the one that points to a fall in confidence in and the support for Croatian politicians, parties and the government, reports N1 on September 6, 2017.
If the parliamentary elections took place at the beginning of September, HDZ would be the relative winner of the election, with 34.0% of support (34.2% in August). The main opposition party, SDP, recorded a slight rise in election support and reached 23.1% (22.1% in August). The two main parties are followed by MOST with 7.7% and Živi Zid with 6.8%. Among smaller parties, the highest-ranked is HSS with 2.7%, followed by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić’s party with 2.3%, Independent for Croatia party and HNS.
Interestingly, for the first time since the beginning of this survey (in January 2004) the most popular politician is nobody, which means that for 23.3% of Croatian citizens there is not a single positive politician (compared with 14.7% a month earlier). The second place belongs to President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, with the support of 15.8% of citizens (17.8% in August). At the third position is Prime Minister Andrej Plenković with 11.2% of support (17.2% in August), followed by Member of Parliament Anka Mrak Taritaš, former SDP leader and Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, Defence Minister Damir Krstičević, MOST leader Božo Petrov, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, Member of European Parliament Tonino Picula and former Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegović. The current leader of the largest opposition party, Davor Bernardić, is at the eleventh position with 1.9% of respondents saying he is the most positive Croatian politician.
The list of the most negative politicians is headed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who was selected by 19.2% of respondents (20.5 in August). He is followed by “all politicians” (13.7%), Zlatko Hasanbegović (9.3%), Davor Bernardić (8%), and SDSS leader Milorad Pupovac (6.2%).
Only 18.1% of respondents (19.7% in August) believe that Croatia is moving in the right direction, while 73.4% of respondents say that Croatia is heading in the wrong direction (69.2% in August).
The government’s support in the eleventh month of its term is at 36.0% (compared with 40.7% in August). The government’s policies are opposed by 52.6% of voters (up from 48.6% in August).
On the 1-to-5 scale, the government received an average mark of 2.30 (2.38 in August). President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović received a mark of 3.09 (3.19 in August), and Parliament a mark of 2.14 (2.17 in August).
The most important topic in August were wildfires in Dalmatia (43.3%), followed by events connected with the controversial memorial plaque in Jasenovac (11%), the renaming of Marshal Tito Square in Zagreb (10%), the Agrokor crisis (9.4%), and the successful tourist season (6.3%).
Translated from N1.
