President Gitanas Nausėda is the most popular politician in Lithuania, according to the latest survey by Vilmorus for the Lietuvos Rytas daily.
More than half of the respondents, 53.9 percent, had a favourable opinion about the president last month, compared to 52.8 percent in September, 55.2 percent in August and 63.1 percent in June.
Meanwhile, one in four, 24.9 percent, had a negative opinion about the president.
Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party, came in second with 47.2 approval of percent, slightly down from 49.2 percent in September. Around a fifth had a negative opinion about her.
Visvaldas Matijošaitis, mayor of Lithuania's second-largest city of Kaunas, is third with 45.8 percent of favourable opinions (44.5 percent in September) and about half of the respondents saying they disapprove of him.
The liberal parliament speaker, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, is next with the approval rating of 38.4 percent (40.3 percent in September) and 35.9 percent having a negative opinion about her.
Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas is viewed favourably by 33.4 percent of the respondents, negatively by 30.8 percent.
A third, 33 percent, have a positive opinion about Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, compared to 33.1 percent in September, 29.3 percent in August and 39.8 percent in June. Meanwhile, 51.4 percent had a negative opinion about her, up from 46.9 percent in September.
Nearly two thirds, or 61.8 percent of respondents, had a negative opinion about Economy Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė, leader of the liberal Freedom Party, up from 59.8 percent in September. Only 13.2 percent had a positive opinion about her, down from 14.3 percent a month ago.
A similar share, 60.7 percent, also had a negative opinion about Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, leader of the ruling conservative Homeland Union party, up from 57.2 percent in September. About one in five, or 21.1 percent, viewed him favourably.
Party rankings
The opposition Social Democratic Party of Lithuania remains the most popular party in Lithuania, as other parties see no major changes to their popularity ratings, the latest survey by Vilmorus for thr Lietuvos Rytas daily shows.
In the survey, 16.8 percent of people said they would vote for the social democrats, compared to 17.7 percent a month earlier.
“The change is within the margin of error. [...] Saulius Skvernelis has registered a new party, so their rating might change slightly,” Vladas Gaidys, head of Vilmorus, told BNS, referring to Lithuania's former prime minister who has recently announced plans to set up a new political party.
The ruling conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) is second with 9.7 percent, down from 12.9 percent a month ago.
The opposition Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union was third with 9.4 percent, down from 10.4 percent, followed by the Liberal Movement, part of the ruling coalition, with 6.3 percent (6 percent in September) and the opposition Labour Party with 5.7 percent (5.6 percent).
The liberal Freedom Party, which is also part of the ruling coalition, is supported by 2.7 percent of the respondents, up from 1.8 percent a month earlier.
The percentage of respondents who did not gave a preference was 24.7 percent.
Another 15.1 percent said they would not vote at all, and 2 percent did not give an answer.
The survey of 1,000 people was carried out on October 15–22.
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