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| Demonstrators ride bicycles during a ride to protest yesterday against the cuts for public employees in Madrid. The protest was called by trade unions Comisiones Obreras, the Union General de Trabajadores and public employees trade union CSI-F |
The Metroscopia poll published monthly in left-leaning newspaper El Pais shows that if a general election was to take place now, the ruling People’s Party would still win with a 30% share of the vote but it would only retain a 5.3% advantage over the Socialist opposition, down from 15.9% in the November vote.
Since Rajoy won the elections by a landslide last year, Spain has become the new frontline of the 2-1/2-year debt crisis and the government has implemented several packages of structural reforms and austerity measures, the latest worth 65bn euros ($80.4bn) until 2014.
It is also trying to rein in its indebted regions’ finances and requested in June a 100bn euros European lifeline for its crippled banks while investors, unnerved by soaring debts and the bad state of an economy set to be in recession until well into next year, sent the country’s borrowing costs to new euro-era highs.
Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards marched in July in demonstrations against the government’s latest reforms and civil servants have been protesting daily in the main cities of the country after their pay and perks were cut.
The 25-26 July poll showed 80% of Spaniards now had little or no confidence in Rajoy, with 72% saying he is not being efficient to fight the economic crisis.
While 74% of the 1,000 people interviewed say they have a negative view of the government, the Socialist opposition which after eight years in power is seen as bearing a huge responsibility in the crisis, is not seen as gaining from the PP’s fall.
The socialist PSOE would get only a 24.7% share of the vote if an election was organised now, down from 28.7% in the November vote.
The centrist party UPyD, which in July managed to open a judicial case against Bankia, a lender which was nationalised after seeking a 23.5bn euros state rescue, registers the biggest jump in the poll, with the support of 9.9% of Spaniards in July, up from 7.8% in June and 4.6 in November.
The communist Izquierda Unida also remains near historic highs, with a backing of 12.3% in July, down from 13.2% in June but up from 7.7% in November.