Support for Robert Golob’s government continues to fall. According to the latest public opinion poll, only less than a third of the population still supports the government. The low popularity of the government parties will obviously be reflected in the upcoming European elections, where the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) is heading for a big victory.
Currently, only 29.4 percent of voters still support the Golob government. As many as 60.6 percent of voters do not support it, while 10 percent of the respondents did not express their opinion on their support for the government.
Support for the government has been declining for the third month in a row now. According to the Parsifal agency, this trend has been continuing since the takeover of power. The only exceptions were two small improvements in support, which happened in August 2022 and June 2023.
The government’s “corruption problems”, as Prime Minister Golob put it, are bringing the whole government down. The Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) have contributed the most to the latest drop in support for the government, the Left party (Levica) much less so. We wrote that the “dilapidated building” affair – the purchase of new premises for a courthouse, which was heavily overpaid – would act as a wedge that would bring down support for the government as a whole at its outbreak, when information about the overpaid purchase of a dilapidated building began to appear in the pro-government media.
However, the downward trend in support for the government is more pronounced and older than the courthouse affair. Since April 2022, the government has had a series of scandals, including the cattle theft scandal, the Star Solar company scandal, and others. The discontent is generated not only by the scandals but also by the operational incapacity of the government. Promised reforms that were supposed to “deliver” 30,000 new homes, allow sick children to see a specialist within 30 days, and curb the high cost of living have all stalled. The government is also embroiled in conflict with key social groups. Doctors and civil servants are currently on strike. Firefighters have also previously gone on strike, and the army and the police have warned of the poor situation in their respective jobs. The deterioration of the security situation caused by illegal migration is also very likely to have contributed to the drop in support.
Outstanding predictions for the SDS party, the Resni.ca party ahead of the Left
If the European elections were held today, 24.5 percent of respondents would vote for the SDS party. In second place would be the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda), for which 12.5 percent of respondents would vote. The Social Democrats would receive only 6.8 percent of the vote. Close on the SD’s heels is the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi), for which 6.3 percent of respondents would vote. The Truth party (Resni.ca), with 4.5 percent of the vote, would be ahead of the Left party, for which only another 4.3 percent of voters would vote. The Slovenian People’s Party (Slovenska ljudska stranka – SLS) would have received 2.8 percent of the vote.
If we only look at the votes of those who already know who they would vote for and will definitely attend the elections, the difference between the SDS party and the pursuers would be even greater, and the order of the parties would change. Namely, 42.5 percent of respondents would vote for the SDS party. The second-placed party, the Freedom Movement, would receive only 19.1 percent of the vote, while New Slovenia would come third with 9.2 percent. In fourth place would be the Social Democrats, with 8.6 percent of the vote. Resni.ca would come fifth, behind the Left party, which would receive 6 percent of the vote.
The SDS party with increasing support
The trend of declining support is also evident when it comes to measuring support for individual parties. The Social Democrats lost the most ground, as 3.6 percent fewer voters would have voted for them than in the previous measurement. The Left party also saw a drop of 0.5 percent. The Freedom Movement would be supported by 3.5 percent more voters than in the last measurement.
The increase in support for the SDS party can be attributed to the programme and staffing alternatives they offer voters and to their effective appeal to voters.
The survey included 863 respondents, of which 50.8 percent were women. The average age of the participants is 51.7. The majority of the respondents are from the oldest age group (46 percent), which means they were at least 55 years old. 34 percent of the respondents are between 35 and 54 years old, and 20 percent are between 18 and 34 years old. The public opinion poll was conducted by the Parsifal agency between the 22nd and 25th of April 2024.
Ž. K.
