Six out of ten Hungarians back Orbán

The prime minister has seen his support rise significantly by mid-March, with 61 percent of active voters preferring to see him stay in power as against 26 percent in favour of the prime ministerial candidate of the united opposition, the think tank said.

Whereas Orbán’s approval rating has consistently been above the 50 percent mark in the past 16 weeks, Peter Marki-Zay has seen his popularity fluctuate between 22 percent and 28 percent and stagnate since the start of the war in Ukraine. According to the poll, Marki-Zay trails Orbán among all social groups, including young people and Budapest voters.

Orbán’s popularity has increased since the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, with the share of active voters backing him jumping from 52 percent to 61 percent in the last two weeks, the think tank said.

The prime minister is backed by 48 percent of voters in the 18-29 age group, with 34 percent of them supporting Marki-Zay. Orbán leads Marki-Zay 45-42 percent among Budapest voters and 72-15 percent among rural Hungarians.

The Centre for Fundamental Rights conducted its polls by phone between November 15, 2021 and March 10, 2022 with representative samples of 1,000 adults.