Klaus Iohannis, Gabriela Firea and Victor Ponta top political personalities confidence ranking

President Klaus Iohannis is at the top of the political personalities confidence ranking, followed by Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea and Pro Romania leader Victor Ponta, found an INSCOP poll conducted between January 21 and February 5 at the commission of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

"President Klaus Iohannis has a 39.5 pct share of high and very high confidence, up almost 5 percent compared to November 2018. Gabriela Firea is ranked second with 23.9 pct, down from November 2018 (when 26.2 pct of the interviewed had expressed high and very high confidence for her), followed by Victor Ponta with 23.7 pct. Confidence in the Pro Romania leader increased 2.5 percent," informs a release this Wednesday.

Dacian Ciolos is next in the ranking with 22.5 pct, up 2.3 percent from November 2018. The authors of the poll believe this growth is also due to the media exposure generated by the establishment of the PLUS party and the entry into the alliance with the Save Romania Union.

Senate Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu is trusted with 22.4 percent very high and high confidence this January, slightly up from the 21.9 percent registered in November.

Leader of the National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban has a share of 16.1 percent very high and high confidence, compared to 14.5 pct in November 2018. He is followed by Social Democrat head Liviu Dragnea with 12.6 pct (compared to 11.6 pct in November), USR Chairman Dan Barna with 10.7 pct (up 3.7 percent from November 2018), and Traian Basescu with 10 pct (compared with 8.3 pct in November 2018).

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila drops to a 9.5 pct level of confidence (compared to 10.8 pct in November 2018), followed by Ion Iliescu with 8.8 pct (compared to 10 pct in November 2018), Kelemen Hunor (7.6 pct vs. 4.6 pct) and Eugen Tomac (6.4 pct vs. 5.4 pct).

According to the INSCOP, "confidence in a political personality" is a more rigorous indicator than other general indicators such as "favorable / unfavorable" opinion, reflecting a significantly higher exigency level when respondents are asked to directly refer to a political personality and his/her activity.

The poll was conducted on the basis of a questionnaire administered by interviewers at the homes of the respondents (1,080 people) aged 18 and over. The maximum permitted error is plus / minus 3 pct for a confidence level of 95 pct. AGERPRES (RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)