Poklukar unseats Pahor as most popular politician

Ljubljana – Health Minister Janez Poklukar has shot to the top of popularity ratings of politicians in a poll commissioned by the newspaper Delo, to replace President Borut Pahor after nearly nine years on top.

Delo notes that the public appears to have high expectations for Poklukar, the doctor who took over as health minister on 23 February.

Pahor has topped the ranking for most of the time since November 2012, save for seven months. The then PM Miro Cerar was on top between June and September 2014, and Marjan Šarec as PM in February and March 2019.

The incumbent PM, Janez Janša, ranks 15th, while his Democratic Party (SDS) continues in the lead among parties, having polled at 16.4%, down from 17.2% the month before.

The opposition Social Democrats (SD) climbed to second, having gained 0.9 percentage points to 10.4%, followed by the Left, which lost a point to 9%.

The opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) in forth gained 1.7 points to 8.8%.

Trailing behind are the junior coalition New Slovenia (NSi) and the Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS). The latter party left the coalition but its MPs continue to support the government.

The ratings of both parties remain broadly unchanged compared with the month before, at 4.6% for the NSi and 2.3% for DeSUS.

The opposition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) saw its support fall by 1.2 points to 2.2%, which is as much as the non-parliamentary People’s Party (SLS) polled at.

The opposition National Party (SNS) polled at 2.1% and the junior coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) at 0.8%, both edging down a bit.

The proportion of the undecided respondents dropped by 1.8 points to 20.8% and the share of those who would not vote for any party fell by 0.8 points to 10.7% from February.

Asked about the government’s job, 51.1% rated it negative (down from 52% in February), 25.6% as average and 21.8% as positive (25% in February).

In the first poll after assuming office, released by Delo in April 2020, the government saw its work rated as positive by 45% and as negative by 20%.

The poll was conducted by Mediana between 8 and 12 March among 703 respondents.

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