THE LEADING party in Slovakia's ruling coalition, Smer, is still the most widely supported, even though the party's popularity has been decreasing.
The latest public opinion poll from the Statistics Office's Institute for Public Opinion Research (ÚVVM), which polled 1,110 adults from April 1 to April 10, showed that 42.9 percent of those polled support Smer.
This number has slipped 2.4 percentage points since March and 3.8 points since February. But it is three times more than the second-most popular political party, the ruling Slovak National Party (SNS), which has 13.1 percent.
Ján Slota's SNS reported the biggest monthly increase in popularity, up 2.1 percentage points.
The opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) placed third, supported by 11 percent. This is a decrease of 2.6 points over the month.
Vladimír Mečiar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the opposition Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) garnered 10.4 percent each.
The change of leadership in the SMK at the end of March has not yet had much effect on the party's popularity - their support increased moderately by 1.3 points over the month. The support of the HZDS has been stable for the third consecutive month.
A total of 8.9 percent of those polled support the Christian-Democratic Movement (KDH), up 1.9 points over the month.
The sociological and demographic analysis showed that Smer enjoys the support of young people up to 29 years old, blue-collar workers and citizens of mid-sized towns. It has the biggest support in the regions of Trenčín and Prešov.
The SNS gets most of its support from businessmen, blue-collar workers and citizens of the Žilina Region.
One-quarter of the respondents do not support any political party. Most of them are younger than 24 years old, unemployed and from the regions of Bratislava and Košice.
