(01/05/10) -

Opposition Popular Party Holds Lead in Spain

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The opposition Popular Party (PP) is now clearly ahead of the governing Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) in Spain, according to a poll by Sigma Dos published in El Mundo. 43.6 per cent of respondents would back the conservative PP, while 38.5 per cent would back the PSOE.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The opposition Popular Party (PP) is now clearly ahead of the governing Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) in Spain, according to a poll by Sigma Dos published in El Mundo. 43.6 per cent of respondents would back the conservative PP, while 38.5 per cent would back the PSOE.

Support is much lower for the coalition of United Left (IU) and Initiative for Catalonia-Greens (IC-V), Catalonia’s Convergence and Union (CiU), Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was sworn in as president of the government in April 2004, following his party’s victory in the legislative ballot. The conservative PP had administered the government under José María Aznar since 1996. Mariano Rajoy took over as PP leader in August 2003.

In March 2008, Spain held a general election. The PSOE secured a new term in office with 43.36 per cent of the vote and 169 seats in the lower house, followed by the PP with 39.85 per cent and 153 mandates. Zapatero retained his post as head of government.

Since late 2007, defaults on so-called subprime mortgages—credit given to high-risk borrowers—in the United States have caused volatility in domestic and global financial markets and pushed the U.S. economy into a recession. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. The crisis has affected the global financial and credit systems.

Spain’s economy has been severely affected by the global financial downturn, as well as by its own setbacks in the domestic real estate market. The Spanish treasury has said that it could take "until 2011" for the national economy to recover from the crisis. The government has pledged a stimulus package worth close to $120 billion U.S. to help the slumping manufacturing and service sectors. The unemployment rate rose to 19.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2009.

Each European Union (EU) member state presides over the Council of the EU for a period of six months, in accordance with a pre-established rotation. This month, Spain took over these responsibilities from Sweden.

On Jan. 1, Zapatero discussed his goals during Spain’s EU presidency, saying, "We have to make Europe an ever stronger factor in the international context; a Europe that defends and extends the values of peace, cooperation, and dialogue among all peoples and nations."

Polling Data

Which party would you vote for in the next general election?

Source: Sigma Dos / El Mundo
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Spanish adults, conducted from Dec. 23 to Dec. 29, 2009. Margin of error is 3.16 per cent.