Seven out of 10 respondents in a latest opinion poll gauging public sentiment in still recession-prone Greece expressed anger, despair, disappointment and concern, with 85 percent saying the country is headed in the wrong direction.
What makes the current opinion poll more noteworthy, however, is the fact that its results were published in the small Athens daily owned by the ruling leftist party, SYRIZA.
The poll’s results were published in the Sunday edition of Avgi, which commissioned the survey by the firm Public Issue.
The daily, which mostly echoes and promotes the positions of leftist SYRIZA, and which for decades served as the “newspaper of record” for the radical left political movement in Greece, also said nine out of 10 respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s work (80 percent for the opposition).
Just as noteworthy is the fact that some 42 percent of respondents in the poll published by Avgi said main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was more suited for the prime minister’s post; 23 percent said current PM Alexis Tsipras is better suited; 32 answered neither of the two.
Roughly half of respondents (51 percent) said they favored snap elections; 46 were against.
Respondents were also asked about the ongoing refugee / migrant crisis that plagues Greece more than any other European state.
Specifically, 73 percent said the refugees – practically all hailing from Mideast war zones – probably cannot be assimilated into Greece society; 20 percent said they could.
Asked whether the refugee flows comprised a threat for Greece’s security, 48 percent answered in the affirmative; 45 percent said no.
