MADRID, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Spain’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) would win 34% of the vote if elections were held now, well ahead of the opposition People’s Party (PP) on 22.2%, according to an October survey by state-run pollster CIS published on Wednesday.
• The poll comes ahead of Spain’s snap elections next month, called by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after parliament rejected his minority government’s housing measures.
• The CIS findings stand in contrast to most other polls, which have pointed to a combined parliamentary majority for the conservative PP and far-right Vox.
• The survey was conducted in the first week of October among 5,025 respondents during nationwide protests over the housing crisis, but before housing activist Maricarmen Abascal, whose eviction had triggered the demonstrations, died in hospital on October 7.
• Far-right party Vox came third with 17.1%, while the PSOE’s hard-left coalition partner Sumar, which is still negotiating alliances with other leftist parties for the elections, trailed on 6.1%, the survey showed.
• Sanchez remains the preferred candidate for the premiership for 39.3% of those surveyed, 24.6 percentage points ahead of PP leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo at 14.7%. Vox leader Santiago Abascal was the favoured pick for 13.8% of those polled.
• Housing has surged to the top of voters’ concerns, cited by 55.7% as Spain’s main problem – record figure and 20 points higher than the previous month. Immigration ranked second at 20.9%, followed by the state of the economy at 20.3%.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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