Seven in 10 Greeks believe interests harmed by long bailout talks
Seven in 10 Greeks believe that the government’s negotiation strategy led to delays in concluding the bailout review, which damaged the country’s interests, according to a new poll by the University of Macedonia for Skai TV.
According to the survey, 72 percent of respondents, including 54 percent of SYRIZA voters, feel Greece emerged worse off from the lengthy negotiations, while just 7.5 percent believe the delay benefited the country.
Voters also seem unimpressed by the outcome of Tuesday’s Eurogroup. Four in 10 of those questioned said they feel the decisions taken are not in Greece’s favor. In contrast, 29 percent said they were not aware of what had been agreed in Brussels, 22.5 percent felt the outcome was neither good nor bad and 7.5 percent felt the outcome was positive.
In terms of support for the parties, the poll suggests that New Democracy still has a strong lead over SYRIZA. The conservatives remained eight points ahead, as they were a month ago, with support for New Democracy running at 25.5 percent, compared to 17.5 percent for SYRIZA.
Golden Dawn remains in third with 7 percent, followed by the Communist Party on 5.5 percent, PASOK on 4.5 percent and the Union of Centrists on 4 percent. Independent Greeks has slipped below the 3 percent threshold for entering Parliament, along with To Potami. Support for both parties stands at 2 percent, which is lower than the 2.5 percent of respondents who said they would support former parliamentary speaker Zoe Constantopoulou’s new party, Sailing for Freedom.
Although 86.5 percent of Greeks say they are disappointed with the government’s performance so far, 44 percent would prefer the coalition to see out its four-year term against 41 percent that would like snap elections.
