The largest group of respondents in an Alpha Research poll, 40%, believe that a government rotation as planned between GERB-UDF and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria is the right thing to do for the country. Another 27%, mostly voters of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Vazrazhdane and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms say that 2-in-1 elections where Bulgarians vote both for national and for European Parliament, is a better solution.
The Alpha Research poll was taken between February 27 and March 3, 2024 among 1,000 adult respondents from across the country, and the results are published on the agency's website.
The government enjoys 21.1% approval, which was as much as it started with when it was formed nine months ago. Disapproval has increased to 52.9% from 37% at the beginning. Outgoing Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov has 23.6% approval and 42.4%, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel 34.7% and 25.2%, respectively.
The expectations about a possible Mariya Gabriel government after the rotation are mostly neutral, with 20% expecting it to work better then the outgoing government and 15% expecting it to be worse.
Parliament gets 7% approval and 62% disapproval. Its Chair, Rosen Zhelyazkov, enjoys higher personal approval (21%) with 52% neutral and 27 disapproval. The likely next Parliament Chair, Atanas Atanassov of CC-DB has 13% approval, 46% neutral and 41 disapproval.
President Rumen Radev has kept his ratings mostly unchanged from the end of 2023: 39% approval, 38% disapproval and 23% neutral.
The leader in the political preferences of respondents who are determined to vote in national elections, is GERB with 23.7% and a lead of 4.5 percentage points on its current power-sharing partner CC-DB with their 19.2%. The likely third in hypothetical national elections are Vazrazhdane with 12.8%, followed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) with 9.7%, the Bulgarian Socialist Party with 9.6% and There Is Such a People with 5.1%. A total of 7.7% are ready to back a different party and 12.3% are undecided.
Boyko Borissov (GERB) is the most approved political leader (21.6%) but also with significant disapproval, 51%. CC co-leader Assen Vassilev gets 13.8% approval and 61.1% disapproval and the other co-leader, Kiril Petkov, has 13.1% and 64.3%, respectively. DB co-leader Hristo Ivanov enjoys 15.2% approval and 49.7% disapproval. Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov has 15% approval and 57.2% disapproval.
The new MRF co-leaders start off with approval of some 50% among the party supporters. On national level, Djevdet Chakarov has 8.7% approval and 48.1% disapproval, and Delyan Peevski 5% approval and 74.4% disapproval.
Socialist leader Korneliya Ninova has 12.2% approval and 56.1% disapproval.
Approval for the acting Prosecutor General, Borislav Sarafov, remains at the level of his predecessors: 5% approval with 52% disapproval and 43% neutral. Only 4% of respondents believe that recently exposed networks for trade in influence in the judiciary existed at a low level. 17% are sure they go high up to the top levels of the prosecution service and the lawcourts. 70% are positive that politicians are involved as well.
The respondents were also asked about issues from the international agenda. The poll found that the prevailing opinion is that the Kremlin regime is responsible for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. 58% say that the authorities physically eliminated Putin's critic; 20% are positive that the authorities are not responsible for his death; and 22% can't say.
Two-thirds of respondents say that they have discussed the Ukraine war with their family in the recent weeks.
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