Despite galloping inflation, the energy crisis, and the negative impact on the government of the surveillance of centre-left Pasok-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis by the National Intelligence Service, ruling New Democracy maintains an 8.4 percentage point lead over main opposition SYRIZA in a new Metron Analysis poll conducted for private Mega television.

Metro Analysis conducted a telephone survey of 1,306 respondents age 17 (voting age) and over from 20-26 September, with random sampling from a telephone number bank created with the Random Digital Dialing (RDD) method.

Notably, 70 percent of the numbers called were land lines and only 30 percent cell phones, and the maximum margin of error is +2.7 percent.

The poll’s findings as regards voter intent give New Democracy 29 percent compared to 20.6 percent for SYRIZA.

They are followed by PASOK-KINAL with 12.2 percent, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) with 5.1 percent, Kyriakos Velopoulos’ Elliniki Lysi with 4.8 percent, and former SYRIZA finance minister Yanis Varoufakis’ MeRA 25 with 3.4 percent.

The electoral threshold to enter parliament is three percent of the popular vote.

Undecided voters, abstention

The survey found that 10.1 percent of respondents have not yet decided what party they will vote for, while 4.4 percent declared that they do not intend to vote in the next general elections.

Regarding the so called “voting estimation” of the percentage that parties are expected to garner without taking into account indeterminate voters (those who say they are still undecided, don’t know, won’t answer, or who will cast destroyed or blank protest ballots), New Democracy is widening its lead.

Here, New Democracy garners 35.8 percent compared to 25.4 percent for SYRIZA.

They are followed by PASOK-KINAL with 15 percent, the KKE with 6.3 percent, Elliniki Lysi with 5,9 percent, and MeRa 25 with 4.1 percent/

Vast majority of Greeks predict New Democracy victory

In terms of which party respondents believe will take the elections, the overwhelming majority (70 percent) say New Democracy, compared to only 16 percent for SYRIZA.

The positive ratings for the government are 36 percent, compared to 16 percent for Syriza.

The government’s negative ratings are 54 percent compared to SYRIZA’s 74 percent.

Majority believe country is going ‘in the wrong direction’

Despite the fact that the ruling party maintains a large, solid lead over the main opposition, only 38 percent of respondents said that the country is going in the right direction.

Greece’s most important problems

For the majority of Greeks, the country’s problems are overwhelmingly economic and a very small percentage cited foreign policy issues, despite heightened Greek-Turkish tensions and Ankara’s frequent threats of war.

While 31 percent said the economy is the country’s most important problem, 26 percent said it is inflation, and 11 percent cited the energy crisis, though it is unclear how the latter two categories can be viewed as distinct from the first.

Only eight percent of respondent said that foreign policy and the war in Ukraine are the country’s most important problem.