STA, 28 February 2022 - Robert Golob's Freedom Movement is ahead of Prime Minister Janez Janša's Democrats (SDS) in the latest poll released by POP TV that this time also includes parties which have not contested the previous general election.
The Freedom Movement, which was not featured in the previous month's poll, ranked at 17.4%, a percentage point ahead of the SDS, which remained flat over the month before, shows the poll carried on Sunday.
Robert Golob Confirms Aim to Enter Politics as President of Z.Dej Party
The new party appears to have chipped away at the approval ratings of the centre-left opposition parties.
The Social Democrats (SD) and Left both lost ground, the former down by 2.7 points to 8.6% and the latter losing 1.5 points to 6.1%.
Similarly, the Marjan Šarec Party (LMŠ) lost two points to 4.3% and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) polled 1.1 points lower at 3.2%
They were both overtaken by another newcomer to the rankings, the alliance Connecting Slovenia, which polled at 4.8%, slightly above the coalition New Slovenia, which stayed flat at 4.5%.
Two more new parties are above 2%. Our Land, the party formed by former agriculture minister Aleksandra Pivec, received 2.5% and Resni.ca, which spearheaded anti-vaccination protests in autumn, was at 2.1%, the same as the Pirate Party.
Two existing parliamentary players, the National Party (SNS) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), are around the one-percent mark.
The arrival of new parties reduced the number of the undecideds by a whole nine points to 13.6%, whereas the share of those who would not vote for any of the parties dropped only marginally, to 7.6%.
President Borut Pahor returned to the top spot in politicians' popularity rankings to overtake Health Minister Janez Poklukar. Golob gained one place to rank third.
The government's approval rating deteriorated a bit as 32.3% endorsed it, down 1.5 points over the month before, whereas the share of those who disapprove of its work rose by half a point to 56.8%.
The poll was conducted by Mediana between 21 and 24 February and involved 715 respondents.
