Many Fidesz voters also feel government is bullying capital, survey shows

A survey conducted in Budapest in mid-April by Medián and 21 Kutatóközpont shows that an overwhelming majority of Budapest residents, 73%, believe that the government is making the financial situation of the capital more difficult because it is led by an opposition politician. Only 17 percent of respondents thought that the capital is treated by the government the same as other municipalities, according to data published by Hvg.hu.

Of all the politicians listed in the survey, Gergely Karácsony was the most liked by Budapest respondents, with 50 percent, just ahead of Anna Donáth who received 48 percent of the votes. The former mayor of Budapest, István Tarlós, came third with 45 percent, and is "more popular than the active Fidesz politicians mentioned in the survey, including Alexandra Szentkirályi, who has been mentioned as a possible challenger to Karácsony", the article said.

Some other key findings of the survey are as follows:

• Twice as many (56 percent) Budapest residents would vote for Karácsony as mayor as for a Fidesz candidate (28 percent);
• opposition parties would win nearly half of the votes in Budapest (46 percent) if they ran together, while 23 per cent would vote for the governing parties "if the election were held this Sunday".
• Only a tenth of Budapest voters think Budapest is in a good financial situation, while more than three-quarters – and more than two-thirds of government party voters – think it is in financial difficulties;
• the majority of Budapest residents have a positive view of the role and performance of the current mayor. 56% think that Gergely Karácsony is doing his best, while a third think he is complaining and shifting the blame;
• more than half of the voters in the Hungarian capital think that the city is currently paying much or slightly more in taxes than under the previous Fidesz municipal leadership.

The survey was commissioned by HVG and carried out between 11-13 April by Medián and the 21 Kutatóközpont, interviewing a representative sample of 1,000 people in the capital by telephone.

We recently reported on the financial troubles of the Hungarian capital and the different views of the mayor and the government on the matter in this article.