Poland’s ruling Law & Justice party is losing support, opinion polls show, a sign that its recent proposals to increase social spending are failing so far to resonate with the public.
Two opinion polls published on wyborcza.pl website late on Friday, showed the party would win a parliamentary election expected in October, but fall well short of the majority needed to rule alone. Law & Justice has faced criticism from the opposition for a worsening cost-of-living crisis, that’s been sparked by the highest inflation in almost a quarter century.
In an attempt to wrestle back the initiative, ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski last Sunday unveiled a plan to raise monthly child allowance by 60% from next year, a social benefit program that was widely-credited with securing it an election victory in 2015.
Law & Justice is campaigning to stay on for a unprecedented third term in office, but a Kantar Public poll conducted on May 12-17 showed backing for Kaczynski’s party had dropped to 31%, sliding four percentage points from a month earlier. Meanwhile, the main opposition group, a coalition led by the Civic Platform party, gained one percentage point in the poll to 28%.
A newly-formed alliance of Poland 2025 and Polish Peasants Party came third with 10% support.
A separate CBOS poll conducted May 8-18 showed Law & Justice down three percentage points to 33%, followed by Civic Platform with 23% backing, up three percentage points. The pollster estimates that election-day turnout will reach 79%.
Kantar Public surveyed 979 adults, while CBOS polled 1,056 adult Poles.
