SDE's Jonatan Vseviov rises to second place in prime ministerial poll
Center Party Chairman Mihhail Kõlvart remains Estonia's most preferred candidate for prime minister, according to a new Norstat poll, while support for Isamaa leader Urmas Reinsalu has fallen sharply over the past month.
A new survey of preferred prime ministerial candidates conducted by Norstat and the Institute for Societal Studies (MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut) shows that 28 percent of respondents would like to see Center Party Chairman Mihhail Kõlvart as prime minister, followed by Social Democrat Jonatan Vseviov with 21 percent and Isamaa Chairman Urmas Reinsalu with 19 percent.
The three most popular candidates are followed by EKRE leader Martin Helme (13 percent), Parempoolsed leader Lavly Perling (8 percent), Reform Party Chairman Kristen Michal (8 percent) and Eesti 200 leader Kristina Kallas (4 percent).
Reinsalu's support has changed the most over the past month, falling by six percentage points. Meanwhile, support for frontrunner Kõlvart has risen by two percentage points. Support for Perling and Michal, who are tied for fifth place, has fallen by two percentage points each.
Among Social Democratic Party supporters, Vseviov is the most popular candidate (81 percent), while Kõlvart leads among Center Party supporters (80 percent), Helme among EKRE supporters (73 percent), Reinsalu among Isamaa supporters (67 percent), Perling among Parempoolsed supporters (61 percent) and Michal among Reform Party supporters (50 percent).
The Institute for Societal Studies and Norstat also asked respondents to indicate their preferences in hypothetical head-to-head contests between two candidates. The pairings were based on the candidates from the two most popular parties in the previous month's survey and the incumbent prime minister. Respondents were asked to choose between the following pairs: Reinsalu vs. Kõlvart, Reinsalu vs. Michal and Kõlvart vs. Michal.
Respondents were asked: "If you could choose between only two candidates, which of them would be a more suitable prime minister for Estonia?"
In a head-to-head contest between Urmas Reinsalu and Kristen Michal, 50 percent would prefer Reinsalu and 24 percent Michal, while 27 percent said they did not know.
In a contest between Mihhail Kõlvart and Kristen Michal, 49 percent would prefer Kõlvart and 31 percent Michal, while 20 percent said they did not know.
In a contest between Urmas Reinsalu and Mihhail Kõlvart, 44 percent of respondents would prefer Reinsalu and 39 percent Kõlvart, while 17 percent said they did not know.
The question about preferred prime ministerial candidates is included once a month in the weekly party preference survey. The latest results cover the polling period from November 2 to 11, during which 1,000 Estonian citizens of voting age were surveyed. As with party support ratings, the results are presented excluding respondents who answered "Don't know."
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Marcus Turovski
