Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic could win in the first round of presidential elections, that should be held in Serbia in the spring, a new poll has shown.
At the same time, according to the Faktor Plus/Politika survey that, among other issues, looks into the chances of potential candidates, President Tomislav Nikolic “could have problems” if he qualified to the second round.
The poll, conducted December 16-26, also shows that Vucic would convincingly defeat Nikolic in the second round.
The newspaper said that the questions asked during the survey were “mostly of a hypothetical nature” considering the small number of confirmed candidates so far. Respondents were asked to choose between “Nikolic, that is, Vucic, and a potential candidate.”
In the second round, Nikolic and Vuk Jeremic would have equal chances (50 against 50 percent), but he would do better against Sasa Jankovic (with 62 percent), Vojislav Seselj (53 percent), and Ivica Dacic (58 percent).
If Vucic went to the second round and squared off against these candidates, he would receive 76 percent against Seselj, 68 percent against Jeremic, and 74 percent against Jankovic. According to the poll, he would also beat Nikolic (64 against 34 percent.)
Asked which politician “left the strongest impression on them,” respondents said Vucic (55 percent), followed by Nikolic (9 percent), Seselj (8 percent), and Dacic (5 percent).
According to the same poll, the performance in office of President Nikolic was rated with an average of 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 5, while 43 percent responded negatively when asked whether he should serve another term. 26 percent said “yes,” while others were unsure, or said they did not know.
Asked who they would vote for if early parliamentary elections were to be held now, 51.4 percent said SNS, followed by SPS (10 percent), SRS (8.8 percent), Enough is Enough (7 percent), DS (6.5 percent).
According to the survey, other parties would not cross the 5 percent threshold.
Source: B92
