The PSOE remains the leading force, but is reducing its lead over the PP, according to the CIS

In the general election scheduled for the end of the year, the PSOE will continue to be the force with the most votes, although the PP is close and is narrowing the gap minimally, remaining at just 1.7 points, as of January. The Center for Sociological Research (CIS) barometer was published this Wednesday by the institute headed by José Felix Tezanos.

The populists are three-tenths ahead of the distance that separated them from the Socialists in December, when they were two points behind the first power. PSOE will get 30.2% of the votes, which is four tenths less than last month. The PP will also lose support, but its decline is less than that of the Socialists. It goes from 28.6% in December to 28.5% in January, less than a tenth.

Unidas Podemos manages to increase its vote estimate by 1.8 points, from 12.4% in December to 14.2% in January. Vox narrowly undercuts expectations and remains with 10% of the vote, down two-tenths from last month. And Ciudadanos does not experience any change compared to the last survey and reaches 2.9% of support, which will not be enough to achieve representation in the Congress of Deputies.

Once again, no political leaders have been confirmed at the state level, although the second vice president and labor minister, Yolanda Díaz, remains the leader most valued by citizens as she moves into the final part of the hearing process. Summar. It will be after this dynamic of citizen participation is completed that Díaz will finally decide whether to take the plunge and run for the presidency in December’s general election.

The job holder gets a score of 4.87 out of 10, so his rating improves by five tenths compared to the previous CIS survey. After him, the second most valued political leader is the head of the executive, Pedro Sánchez, who also improves – in his case, by tenths compared to December – reaching 4.38. Thus, there is little change in the trend, as Feijo overtook Sanchez in the ratings last month. Now the PP leader is in third place at 4.27, down twelve tenths from the previous barometer.

The survey was conducted from January 2 to 12, therefore, before the open confrontation in Castilla y León on the anti-abortion plan of Vox in the party of Alberto Núñez Feijo, announced by the Vice President of the Council, Juan García-Gallardo. The highest leader of the extreme right in the region, on the same day 12. This is the first barometer of the election year. The cycle will begin on May 28 with regional and local elections and will likely end with general elections in December.

The CIS survey showed the impact on voters in the final days of 2022 of the most controversial legal reforms launched by the government, such as the modification of the embezzlement crime. It also includes the effect of an unprecedented clash between the Constitutional Court and the Legislature after the Court of Guarantee first paralyzed the processing of a law that specifically sought to renew it after months of deadlock.

One of the questions included in this barometer concerns the preference of Spaniards on which political leader should be prime minister. Pedro Sanchez would win the fight against Alberto Nunez Feijo. 22.3% of respondents prefer the current president to be the head of the executive branch, compared to 16.4% who prefer the leader of the PP.