STA, 26 November 2018 - The latest poll released by Delo indicates the government is becoming increasingly popular, but this has not helped the ruling Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), which has lost ground to their coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SD). The opposition Democrats (SDS) remain by far the strongest party.
The government's approval rating improved from 2.52 to 2.76 on a 1-5 scale, shows the Mediana poll carried by Delo on Monday.
In the party rankings, the SDS has retained the top position, although it lost some ground. It polled at 18.3%, a drop of more 0.3 points.
The SD gained ground, apparently mostly at the expense of the LMŠ.
It mustered 8.9%, almost two points higher than in October, while the LMŠ saw the reverse trend, going from 8.9% to 7%.
In the ranks of the opposition, the Left remained flat at 6.1%, New Slovenia (NSi) added 0.6 points to 5.5% and the National Party (SNS) was also up 0.6 points to 3.8%.
Related: Our guides to most of Slovenia’s political parties are here
Among the coalition parties, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) lost ground, polling at 3.7% and 3.2%, respectively, while the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) was up over a point to 3.4%.
Buoyed by a solid result in the local election, the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) went from 1.7% to 3.8%.
Pahor the most popular figure in Slovenian politics, but Janković also rises
In the politicians' popularity rankings, President Borut Pahor remains in the top position with a grade of 3.57 on a 1-5 scale, while Prime Minister Marjan Šarec made the jump from fourth to second, his ranking going from 2.89 to 3.18.
EU Commissioner Violeta Bulc and MEP Tanja Fajon, who have for years been trading places in runner-up position, have been pushed to third and fourth place, respectively.
SDS lawmaker Anže Logar, who failed to beat incumbent Mayor Zoran Janković in the recent local election but managed the best result so far for a centre-right candidate, is in fifth place, but Janković, in seventh, made the biggest jump of all the politicians in the top 20.
The poll was carried out by Mediana between 13 and 22 November and involved 714 respondents.
