In recent years, several conflicts have emerged between left-wing parties and their candidate for prime minister, Péter Márki-Zay. On the one hand, the compilation of a joint list by the left-liberal forces is more challenging than expected, and the issue of the “seventh faction” and the Roma politicians’ shoo-in places on the electoral list proposed by the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely have caused tension. On the other hand, several statements can be linked to Márki-Zay’s name, in which the politician questioned the legitimacy of measures with strong public support. The candidate for prime minister of the left called the reincorporation of the 13th month pension “enormity” and the overhead cost reduction an act of “folly”, the official freeze on petrol prices an “absolutely stupid, irresponsible decision” and the stop price on food a “stupid measure”. Examining the impact of the above-mentioned events in the political arena, Századvég surveyed the development of the electoral perception of Péter Márki-Zay.
The survey of Századvég in December showed that the proportion of those who like Péter Márki-Zay fell from 42 percent in October to 36 percent in December 2021, and regarding the types of settlements (capital, county seats, cities, villages) only in Budapest did the proportion of those who like Márki-Zay (49 percent) exceed the proportion of those who reject him (47 percent).
The latest research data show that the trend observed at the end of last year continued:
the popularity of Péter Márki-Zay has been steadily declining since he became a candidate for prime minister.
In January 2022, 33 percent of respondents liked the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, which is a decrease of 3 percentage points compared to the data measured in December last year and a total of 9 percentage points compared to October 2021. At the same time,
the proportion of those who had a negative opinion of the left’s candidate for prime minister rose from 56 percent to 59 percent from December to January,
while in October last year a fairly smaller proportion of respondents, 47 percent, expressed a negative opinion about Péter Márki-Zay.
It is also interesting that according to the latest survey of Századvég, Márki-Zay no longer enjoys the liking of the majority of the capital’s residents.
It shows that
42 percent of the respondents in Budapest expressed a positive opinion about the candidate for prime minister of the left, while 52 percent of them do not like the politician.
Thirty-five percent of those living in county seats like Péter Márki-Zay, while 56 percent of them reject him. The left-liberal aspiring prime minister is even more unpopular in towns and villages: Márki-Zay is rejected by 32 to 61 percent regarding urban respondents and 26 to 65 percent regarding those living in villages.
Methodology: CATI method, n=1000, among the politically active Hungarian adult population (who promise to vote for sure or probably vote), data collection: January 2022
