Left-wing parties still unpopular

Commenting on the latest party preference poll, a left-wing and a pro-government commentator both contend that Leftist parties need to change course and abandon their pro-migration policies if they want to halt their decline.

According to Medián’s latest poll, Fidesz has increased its support in four months from 28 to 32 per cent of the total voting population. Jobbik’s popularity is down to 13 per cent (from 16), while the MSZP stands at 11 per cent, followed by the Democratic Coalition (4 per cent), LMP (2 per cent) and Together (2 per cent). The share of those voters who are satisfied with the government’s performance has risen to 35 per cent (from 31 per cent), and PM Orbán’s popularity also grew by 6 per cent to 44 per cent. Endre Hann, the director of the Medián pollster company, said that migration issues are likely to dominate public opinion until the 2018 Parliamentary election.

Index.hu reported that the MSZP has decided to abandon its previous pro-migration stance, as polls suggested that their supporters also wanted to stop the flow of migrants. According to Index.hu, the MSZP will now follow the line of ’positive neutrality’ in migration politics. The Socialists’ more conciliatory approach was harshly criticized by former PM Gyurcsány and his Democratic Coalition.

Voters have really no clue what the MSZP stands for, Péter Pető writes in Népszabadság. The left-wing columnist suspects that the Socialists are in a deep identity crisis. Their performance in the migration crisis dispute shows that the party cannot formulate clear and coherent messages, Pető suggests. The MSZP fears any criticism and so avoids addressing even the timeliest problems, the author believes.

In Magyar Idők, Dávid Megyeri thinks that the Left risks becoming weightless in Hungarian politics unless they reconsider their pro-migration stance. The pro-government columnist notes that as European voters become increasingly concerned about migration, left-wing parties throughout the continent are abandoning their uncritical opposition to border controls. Megyeri thinks that the MSZP has changed course as their leadership realized that the vast majority of Hungarians oppose migration. Left-wing parties in Europe for long bought the argument that migration is economically beneficial, and closed their ears to voters who thought otherwise. Now left-wing parties are surprised that voters are also turning their backs on them, Megyeri concludes.

Tags: Democratic Coalition, Fidesz, Left, migration, MSZP, opposition