7 out of 10 Hungarians Want to See a Prime Ministerial Debate
- 21 Feb 2022 6:50 AM
The latest national and representative poll taken by Publicus and Népszava has found that 71% of voters would watch a debate between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his opposition candidate, Péter Márki-Zay, ahead of parliamentary elections on April 3.
The vast majority of opposition voters, 93%, want to see the debate happen, while even a majority of the ruling party’s voters, 51%, would watch a debate between the two dueling candidates.
Nearly all opposition voters, 94%, believe that “Orbán debates with opposition parties in Parliament enough” is not a valid reason to not hold the debate.
A similar proportion of opposition voters think that “the government knows what it is doing and why” is also not an acceptable reason to reject a debate, while 18% of Fidesz voters likewise disagree with these positions.
Other key findings from the survey showed that:
* A third of those polled (34%) said that the real reason Viktor Orbán does not want an open debate is because he is afraid of unpleasant topics that may come up.
* Almost one in five (19%) of respondents said that the Prime Minister did not want an open debate because he did not want to appear on an equal footing with Péter Márki-Zay.
* And 29% felt that Orban is refusing to debate because he’s afraid he won’t be as good as his opponent.
Péter Márki-Zay has put up 1,300 billboards around the country to highlight the importance of a debate between the two main candidates for prime minister, claiming that the Prime Minister is afraid to debate because he knows he’s lying.
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