A poll quoted by the Austrian press on Sunday demonstrates that the majority of the Austrian population supports Vienna’s refusal to accept the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen. Most of the supporters are voters of the conservatives in power (OeVP) and the nationalist party FPOe reports HotNews.
52% of those surveyed said they approve of the decision to block Romania and Bulgaria from joining Schengen, and 34% said they disagree.
On the other hand, the survey confirms that the nationalists from the Freedom Party (FPOe) enjoy the greatest popularity and have surpassed the traditional Austrian parties. In fact, Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservatives are only in third place in the electorate’s preferences. With 26%, the Freedom Party is in first place, ahead of the social democrats from SPOe, rated at 24%, and the conservatives from OeVP, who have 22%.
NEOS, a liberal-leaning party relatively new to the Austrian political landscape, and the Greens, who are minority partners in government, are tied for fourth place with 11%.
Currently, the extremist party MFG, which brings together anti-vaccinists and supporters of conspiracy theories, would have a 3% share and would thus miss out on entering the National Council (the lower house of the Austrian Parliament).
According to the survey, the upward trend of FPOe continues, while SPOe dropped to second place. The reason for this is probably the hesitant attitude regarding asylum and Schengen issues. The last time SPOe ranked below 25% was in the summer of 2021, states the public opinion polling institution.
If there were to be an election for the position of chancellor, Karl Nehammer would remain in the lead, with a 30% approval rate, ranking ahead of the FPOe leader, Herbert Kickl, who is rated with 25% of voting intentions. SPOe leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner trailed Kickl for the first time since October 2021, with 22% of voting intentions. At a great distance are the leader of NEOS, Meinl-Reisinger (12%) and his counterpart from the Greens, the current vice chancellor Werner Kogler (10%).
But if the governor of Burgenland (Austria’s easternmost land, which borders Hungary – n.r.), the social democrat Hans Peter Doskozil, were to run for the Chancellery, the situation would be different. In this case, Doskozil would be in first place, with 31% of voting intentions, followed by the current chancellor Karl Nehammer (25%) and the leader of the Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl (21%). According to the sociological study, Doskozil, as the candidate of the Social Democrats for the position of chancellor, would recover the losses that the center-left had among the voters of the center who went to the right, as well as among the undecided voters.
In the Schengen debate, Austria’s Social Democrats took a hesitant stance, with some of the party’s top politicians criticizing the government, while party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner agreed to block Romania and Bulgaria. And Doskozil criticized the Minister of the Interior, but to reproach him for not being firm enough and not asking for more effective controls at Bulgaria’s borders. As for the Greens, who are in government, they spoke out against blocking decisions at the EU level.
The „Austria Trends” survey was conducted by the Peter Hajek Institute on behalf of the APA press agency and the ATV television station. 800 people over the age of 16 were interviewed online and by phone, between December 12 and 15, and the margin of error is plus/minus 3.5%.
