A new poll conducted by Fréttablaðið/Stöð 2/Vísir a few days after the joint platform of Iceland’s new government was announced shows overwhelming support for the coalition. 78% of respondents said they support the government, although rising and falling levels of support were observed across several parties in the opposition.
According to the results, support for all three parties in the ruling coalition – the Left-Greens, the Independence Party and the Progressive Party – rose between October 28th, the day before election day, and December 4th. The Left-Greens saw the greatest gains of all, going from 16.89% to 23.5%. The highest level of support was observed in Icelanders over 50 years of age, 85% of whom said they supported the government.
In fact, according to information compiled by Gallup, no Icelandic government has been this popular since the Independence Party-Social Democrat coalition of 2007, which polled at 83% after elections at that time.
Meanwhile, support for the different opposition parties has been mixed. Only the Social Democrats saw a rise in support, going from 12.05% to 13.4%. All other opposition parties lost support, with the biggest hit being taken by the Centre Party, going from 10.87% to 7.4%.
If elections were held today, both the Reform Party and the People’s Party would lose all eight of their collective seats in parliament. Meanwhile, the Left-Greens would go from 11 seats to 17, the Independence Party would go from 16 seats to 19, and the Progressives would hold steady with eight seats.
The poll is especially telling as it was conducted on December 4th, days after the government’s joint coalition agreement was made public. So while the government has not yet had a chance to enact any of their policies, the poll at least indicates most Icelanders are satisfied with the policies as stated.
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