Metron Analysis’ MEGA poll shows that society remains broadly dissatisfied with the government’s performance, particularly in areas such as inflation, crime, education, while divisions remain over the issue of private universities, while recording strong solidarity with farmers.
All this shows that in spite of a government rhetoric that tries to present an image of “omnipotence” of the government, on the basis of the absence of a strong political opposition, the government is faced with a fairly powerful, multifaceted, necessarily contradictory but no less important, social opposition, which is also developing into an increasingly important parameter of the political situation and the way in which the real political correlation of power is articulated.
All this can be seen in the figures listed in the poll.
First of all, in terms of the overall assessment of the country’s situation, 60% insist that things are going in the wrong direction, while only 34% consider that they are going in the right direction.
As for the country’s problems, citizens still – in their spontaneous answers – mention punctuality and economy, showing that the “cost of living crisis” remains at the center of citizens’ interest.
At the same time, the government is under fire from public opinion for its performance in dealing with specific problems: corruption, natural disasters, inflation and crime, i.e. the problems around which there is a particularly strong social dissatisfaction. This is also shown by the fact that the government has 73% negative opinions on the issue of crime, 72% on the issue of inflation, and 70% on the issue of natural disasters and corruption.
It is of particular importance that the government receives a particularly negative rating in an issue that it considers the “peak” of its reforms, that of education, as 65% of citizens have a negative opinion of the government’s performance in the field of education.
Opinions are also negative on a topic that is supposed to concern the core of a liberal position, that of individual freedoms. 46% have a rather negative impression of the government’s performance in protecting individual liberties, and only 33% rate it positively in this regard.
Regarding the issue of solidarity with farmers, the percentages of support for the farmers’ requests are impressive, reaching 82%, while the great majority (62%) view the forms of mobilization positively.
On the issue of same-sex marriage, the survey continues to show the same trend as in the January poll. There is still a fairly strong approval of marriage (60%), and at the same time strong disagreement with procreation, although with a slight retreat to 66% from 69% in January. Again it is shown that one of the issues where the answers are clearly polarized on the left-right axis, especially on the issue of adoption where the majority are in favor of those who define themselves as leftists.
Finally, on the issue of private universities, public opinion remains divided. 51% are in favor of establishing branches of foreign universities and 45% against.
The age polarization is of particular interest. Among the youth (17-27), i.e. the age group that is directly concerned by the issue, the rejection of private universities remains the majority with 59% being against, while those over 79 are more positive.
Accordingly, in terms of professional/social categories, it is important that the most rejecting are the students, with 68%, which also explains the duration of their mobilizations, the farmers and breeders and the unemployed, with the employees being divided and more ardent supporters of pensioners and freelancers / employers.
