Poll: Left-Greens Lose Half Their Support; Pirates Second-Largest Party

While parliamentary elections are still about a year away, a new poll from Market and Media Research shows a much different result from the 2017 elections, if elections were held today.

As is pretty much always the case, the Independence Party is the strongest-polling party right now, with 25.6% saying they would vote for them if elections were held today. This is within the margin of error for their results in 2017, when they clocked in at 25.2%, and up by about a percentage point from the last poll, taken on September 2nd.

The other two parties in the ruling coalition—the Progressive Party and the Left-Greens, who lead the government—did not fare as well. The Progressives are currently polling at 8.3%; slightly less than where they were for the last poll, but down from 10.7% in 2017. The Left-Greens have seen a sharper decline, and are currently at 8.5%—down from 9.6% from the last poll but also down from 16.9% during the elections, their support effectively now half what it was at that time.

The second strongest show in the poll was made by the Pirate Party, now at 15%, which is up from 14.3% at the last poll and from 9.2% in 2017. Not too far behind them are the Social Democrats, at 12.8% who, while down from their 14.9% position during the previous poll, is also about where they were during the last elections, when they were at 12.1%.

The Centre Party, after dropping to 8% during the last poll, are now within the margin of error of back to where they were in 2017, at 10.8%. Meanwhile, the Reform Party, who got 6.7% during the last elections, are now at 9.4%, down from 10% during the last poll.

The People’s Party, if elections were held today, would likely not get a seat in Parliament at all, as they are now at 3.6%; down from 6.9% in 2017 and from 4.8% during the last poll. However, the Socialist Party—who do not have a seat in Parliament—are making a slightly stronger showing, as they are now at 4.3%, coming up from 3.4% during the last poll.

Support for the ruling coalition as a whole rose slight from the last poll—from 50.1% to 51%—but is still well below their support when they were first formed, when they were at 66.7%. The coalition has not polled higher than 56.2% since that day.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.