Summer surveys in Romania

A recent opinion poll surveying the Romanians state of mind shows that 49% of the respondents believe that Romania is heading in the wrong direction and only 44% think the direction is good.

Bogdan Matei, 24.08.2015, 14:27

2015 is not an electoral year unlike 2014, when Romanians voted in the presidential election in autumn, and unlike 2016 when local and legislative elections will be held in Romania. Therefore the polls surveying people’s trust in top ranking politicians or voting intentions for one party or another are not relevant for the final verdict at the polls.

However, figures point to revealing tendencies in the voters’ state of mind. Thus, after almost 8 months of presidential mandate, Klaus Iohannis continues to be the political personality whom Romanians credit with the highest degrees of confidence, 59%. This is the good news, but the bad news is that, in comparison with December 2014, when he began his mandate, his popularity dropped by 19% from the initial 78%.

Sociologists believe his downfall is quite swift and political analysts say his dwindling popularity reflects the voters’ disappointment. After 10 years in which the hyperactive and confrontational style of the former president Traian Basescu was tiresome for many, Romanians “wanted a moderate president” as newspapers write, but “not one who stays in his ivory tower”.

According to the Bucharest newspapers, Iohannis has not proved that he is willing to lead the country Romanians entrusted to him and apparently seems content with the easy-going interviews organized in advance by his people and with the visits he pays each month to the European capitals. In the confidence ranking, the president is followed by the general mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, with 40%.

The former Social Democrat, who was however elected mayor as an independent, is enjoying now, at the end of his second term in office, the results of his administration following which Bucharest looks better and better. Otherwise, commentators don’t count on his political longevity due to the pile of corruption files drafted by prosecutors for the general city hall and to the fact that more and more of Oprescu’s collaborators and personal advisors have been imprisoned.

The people in the entourage of the Social Democratic Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, are also facing legal problems just like the prime minister himself who was accused of corruption by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. According to the survey, the prime minister still enjoys the trust of only 35% of Romanians. On the other hand, 47% of the respondents consider that under the current government the country’s economic situation has improved, 31% think that the economic situation is the same while 20% say the situation has worsened during the current government’s administration.

If elections were held next Sunday 41% of Romanians would vote for the main opposition party, the National Liberal Party, while 37% would vote for the Social Democratic Party. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, in opposition, and the extra-parliamentary party M10 of euro MP Monica Macovei would be voted by 5% of the Romanians. The junior partners of the Social Democrats in the governing coalition, the Liberals and Democrats’ Alliance- ALDE, with 3%, and the National Union for the Progress of Romania, with 2%, are under the electoral threshold of 5%.