Incumbent Alar Karis most popular choice for president in public poll
If the choice were only between two presidential candidates, 70 percent of respondents to a recent poll said they would support Alar Karis, while 15 percent would back Kersti Kaljulaid.
Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) recently floated the idea that Kersti Kaljulaid, who was recently removed from her position as president of the Estonian Olympic Committee, could run as a presidential candidate in the presidential election this fall. In light of this, the Institute for Societal Studies asked respondents which they preferred — Alar Karis or Kaljulaid.
Respondents were also asked to choose their preferred presidential candidate from a list of names that have appeared in the media.
Respondents were asked: "If there were two presidential candidates to choose from, which would you prefer?" Seventy percent said they preferred Karis, 15 percent preferred Kaljulaid and 15 percent answered "don't know."
Broken down by party preference, 87 percent of Isamaa supporters, 86 percent of Center Party supporters, 79 percent of Conservative People's Party of Estonia supporters, 62 percent of Parempoolsed supporters, 55 percent of Social Democratic Party supporters and 52 percent of Reform Party supporters preferred Karis over Kaljulaid. Meanwhile, Kaljulaid was preferred by 41 percent of Reform Party supporters, 39 percent of Social Democratic Party supporters, 29 percent of Parempoolsed supporters, 5 percent of Center Party supporters, 4 percent of Isamaa supporters and 3 percent of EKRE supporters.
Respondents were also presented with a list of possible presidential candidates and asked whom they would like to see as the next president.
The following ranking emerged from the responses:
Alar Karis: 39.1 percent
Mart Helme: 10 percent
Marina Kaljurand: 6.7 percent
Kersti Kaljulaid: 5.1 percent
Jüri Ratas: 3.5 percent
Ülle Madise: 3.3 percent
Jonatan Vseviov: 2.8 percent
Jüri Luik: 2.7 percent
Indrek Neivelt: 2.4 percent
Urmas Paet: 2.3 percent
Allar Jõks: 1.7 percent
Indrek Tarand: 1 percent
Sven Mikser: 0.8 percent
Kadri Simson: 0.8 percent
Janar Holm: 0.6 percent
Matti Maasikas: 0.6 percent
Tarmo Soomere: 0.5 percent
Don't know: 16.2 percent
Respondents were also asked whether they support Karis serving a second term as president. Twenty-four percent said "no" or "probably not," 67 percent said "probably yes" or "yes," while 9 percent answered "don't know."
The Norstat survey was conducted online May 12–13 among Estonian citizens aged 18 and older. A total of 1,005 respondents took part in the poll.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Marcus Turovski
