Hungarians See Orbán as Better Leader Than Márki-Zay, But More Corrupt

Fidesz voters view Viktor Orbán as nearly perfect, while opposition sympathizers are more critical of Péter Márki-Zay, according to a new Závecz Research poll commissioned by 24.hu. Because of this disparity, the Prime Minister performed somewhat better overall than his opponent, but was also seen as more corrupt.

Respondents were asked to rank Viktor Orbán and his main challenger Péter Márki-Zay on a scale from 1 to 5 on the basis of various attributes.

When asked about leadership skills, Viktor Orbán got an average of 3.3, but Péter Márki-Zay scored a lower average of 2.6. On the question of whether the politician “is able to protect Hungary,” Orbán’s average was 3.2 and Márki-Zay’s was 2.5.

One important caveat is that the poll was conducted between February 17-23, so respondents were not influenced by political reactions to the outbreak of hostilities in neighboring Ukraine.

Regarding economic expertise, the Prime Minister was assessed at 3.1, compared to 2.7 for the united opposition’s candidate. But with the poll’s margin of error at 0.4%, the difference between these two scores is negligible.

Márki-Zay seen as less corrupt than Orbán

However, Péter Márki-Zay clearly outperformed Viktor Orbán in at least one area. When asked how corrupt each politician was, with a lower score meaning “less corrupt” and a higher one meaning “more corrupt,” the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely got an average of 2.1, while the Fidesz president’s average score was 3.

The main reason for the difference between the assessment of the two candidates appears to be that Fidesz supporters have more love for their prime ministerial candidate more than opposition supporters do for theirs.

Fidesz voters gave the Prime Minister a score of just under 5 on average, while opposition voters were more critical of Péter Márki-Zay, giving him an overall average score of just under 4.

[HVG]