The mayor has been campaigning for the position of Prime Minister for almost three months, but his popularity has not increased either among the entire population or among government critics. This Sunday, 55 percent of Hungarians would choose Orbán and 15 percent Karácsony as prime minister, according to a survey by the Viewpoint Institute.
Since the start of Gergely Karácsony's campaign in mid-May, the Nézőpont Intézet has regularly asked in its research which adult Hungarians would choose as prime minister among the current prime minister and the aspiring mayor. Three months ago, half of Hungarians (50 percent) answered this question Viktor Orbán's name and only a sixth (16 percent) with Gergely Karácsony . Due to the number of candidates, self-nominations and pseudo-candidates appearing on the left, this data may have seemed like a suitable starting point for the mayor.
source: Point of View Institute
At the same time, according to the data collection at the beginning of August, the Párbeszéd president has not been able to move from the starting point since then. According to this week's research by the Nézőpont Institute, 55 percent of Hungarians would currently choose Orbán and 15 percent Karácsony as prime minister , and another 19 percent (3 months ago 23) would choose neither of them. In other words, the difference between the incumbent prime minister and the prime minister-candidate aspiring to office rose from 34 percent to 40 percent.
In order for the left to officially nominate the mayor as head of government, he must first of all convince left-wing voters. However, Karácsony did not become more popular among potential voters either: in May, 39 percent of government critics and 37 percent in August would have chosen him as prime minister over Viktor Orbán, and 43 and 39 percent, respectively, "neither".
It is interesting that the mayor does not enjoy strong support among Budapest residents either. In a hypothetical Orbán-Karácsony duel, 43 percent of the citizens of the capital would choose the incumbent prime minister, and only 26 percent would choose the aspiring prime minister. Since the Párbeszéd president is not ahead of the Fidesz president in terms of popularity in any social group, Karácsony can hardly be happy after three months of campaigning.
Source: Point of View Institute
(Cover photo: Hungarian Nation)
