The ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Leftist-Greens has reached a new low in terms of levels of support, while the Independence Party continues to grow.
As RÚV points out, two weeks before the conservative-led government was driven from power on January 26, 2009, a Gallup poll showed the ruling coalition at the time – led by the Independence Party with the Social Democrats – was at 26%, a record low in Iceland. Today, support for the current leftist ruling coalition is at 28%.
While support for the ruling coalition has never been lower, the Independence Party continues to grow in strength. 38% of respondents to the latest Gallup poll said they would vote for the conservatives if elections were held today. This is an increase of 5% from the previous month. The Social Democrats and the Leftist-Greens received about 17% and 11% respectively.
Support for the Progressives holds relatively steady, at 13%. Meanwhile, the new party Solidarity came in at 9%, a little more than a 2% drop from last month. Bright Future, another relatively new party, is at 5%.
Magnús Orri Schram, an MP for the Social Democrats, said the drop in support can be explained by the fact that the government has had to make unpopular but necessary decisions in budget cuts in order to help repair the economy; that the state was more or less ruined when the current government came to power. He added that he believed the next year will be focused on turning the economy around and moving it forward.
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