The president of the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) José Félix Tezanos this Tuesday defended the data from its latest barometers, which put the PSOE above the PP, arguing that the decline that Alberto Núñez Feijo has suffered since the mid-2000s. The summer is due to the fact that part of the population has verified in debates and interventions that certain knowledge, especially economic knowledge, is necessary for leadership.
Tezanos recalled that his barometers, as well as other polls, recorded a rise in the PP after the change of leadership in the party at the beginning of the year, following the arrival of the Galician baron in Genoa, which he has. Attributed to what is known as the “honeymoon” of political leaders. For the sociologist, this period ended in the summer with face-to-face meetings between Feijoo and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in the Senate.
“Feiyo had the advantage of being unknown. I had expectations and opportunities. But then there was some debate where it was possible to argue that Feijo did not have the economic knowledge that some people consider necessary for a certain leadership,” Tezanos said at a breakfast organized by the Nueva Economía Fórum. As mentioned, some of these people also found the “team” lacking.
According to the latest CIS barometers, the PP touched 25% of direct voting intentions in July, a peak in recent years. At that time PSOE fell to 21.1%. A month later, the conservative formation fell to 22% and in October, although slightly up, four points behind Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE. This deterioration has been experienced by Feijo himself, who scored a high 5.2 in April’s leadership evaluation questions, much higher than Sanchez, and today at 4.2, putting him very far behind the president and second vice president. Yolanda Diaz.
According to Tezanos, this fall is related to the end of the honeymoon period, which also adds to the mistakes that the PP president has made in recent months in his statements, especially in the economic field. “Issues where people perceive it’s not well handled, like risk premium, tax issues.” The citizen perceives these situations,” said the CIS director, who cited the “paradigmatic” example of the first debate in the Senate between Sanchez and Feijoo, which he said “not many people saw,” but which had “repercussions” in print media and on television.
“Those who analyze the situation without sociological data can perceive that there has been a deterioration of Mr. Feijoo,” Tezanos elaborated in his speech, reiterating that his data began to show significant changes in September. At this point, the director of the center defended the rigor of his barometers and faced the criticism that various sectors regularly level against his polls for overstating the PSOE. “I have been a member of the PSOE since I was in college (…). But I never falsified a fact. As a sociologist, I will hang up my coat if something is falsified, because it is also absurd. What do I get out of it? As long as a liar is caught, than a lame one, he determined.
The Fall of Vox
The October CIS, published this Monday, estimates that if a general election were held then, the PSOE would win 32.7% of the vote, four points ahead of the PP and its own result in the 2019 general election. The socialists are leaving. 29.2% last month 32.7% this month. The increase of three and a half points is one of the largest recorded by the CIS in recent months. Nor did the PP achieve this increase from one month to the next after the election of Alberto Núñez Feijoo.
However, Tessanos stressed this Tuesday that the PP has not really fallen that much and that despite the decline of the last two months, it remains at 29.2%, which is an appropriate figure. Instead, he said, the data they’re crunching shows Vox’s vote returning to the popular, their “place of origin.” “Vox has had a very fast growth, but there is an electorate that is showing a tendency to return to the seat,” he said, adding that the PP “remains as a reference to unify the right-wing vote” despite this. “Reduces the prestige of Feijoo”.
At the time, the CIS director argued that far-right voting in other countries after the war was characterized by its “extreme volatility”, which he said had recently been seen in Germany, where a sharp escalation has now reduced their voting intentions. It also led to a victory in that country for Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Italian Brotherhood, who despite winning the election received “22 or 23 percent”, which is “not much”. “It is difficult to make medium-term predictions, but what we observe is that when people are worried or afraid, they look for strong leaders. There are people who say that fear is from the right,” he said.
Source: El Diario
