If Romanians went to the polls on Sunday, a massive 38% would vote for the Euro-skeptic AUR party, more than doubling its results in December elections, a poll released Friday shows.
The survey showed parliament’s biggest party, the Social Democratic Party, slumping into second place, with just 20% of the vote, according to the CURS opinion poll. It won about 23% of the votes in the 2024 ballot.
Despite the surge in support for the nationalists, however, some 54% of Romanians said they fully agreed or to some extent with tough economic measures undertaken by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s pro-European coalition government, the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology poll showed.
More than one-third however disagree with the tough measures, such as raising VAT, designed to cut Romania’s burgeoning budget deficit of 9.3%, the highest in the European Union.
Asked ‘What is the impact of the measures announced by the government on you and your family’, 41% of the interviewees answered: ‘Very high’, 37% say ‘high’, 14% consider the impact to be small, 3% ‘very small or not at all’, while 5% did not respond.
Tapping into the discontent, AUR, which won about 18% of votes in December, has filed a motion of no confidence against Bolojan’s government which Parliament will vote on, on Monday.
Reflecting popular dissatisfaction, 69% of respondents said Romania was heading in the wrong direction while just over one-fourth said Romania was on the right track.
The poll was conducted from July 4-10 on 1,067 respondents, aged 18 years and over. It had a s +/-3% margin of error. The polls was conducted by computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
Romania must step up to its role of pro-Western leader in the region
