António Costa’s government went, in the space of six months, from an expressively positive performance evaluation to less positive popularity numbers. A survey published this Friday in the weekly Expresso, carried out by the ICS/ISCTE, reveals that almost half (49%) of those surveyed consider the Government’s provision “bad” or “very bad”.

While almost half of the Portuguese consider that the government’s performance is “bad” (35%) or “very bad” (13%), only 1% rate the performance of the socialist executive as “very good”. The majority, however, is in the 41% that considers the performance “good”.

In March, two months after the elections and the Government’s inauguration, 65% of those surveyed had a positive assessment. The weekly of the Impresa group recalls that this was the best result of the series of studies, 10 percentage points above the second best, registered in April 2021.

In September, six months later, the positive opinions of those surveyed fell sharply to 42%, the lowest figure in two and a half years of surveys compiled by Expresso. Negative opinions increased from 28% in March to 49%, the highest figure.

The survey also includes an analysis of the voting intentions of the Portuguese. PS continues to lead, with 37%, but registers an unfavorable variation of four points. The PSD, for its part, has not changed, despite the change in political leader and the decline in the popularity of the socialist executive, remaining at 28%.

The intention to vote for Chega rose four points, to 11%, while the CDU did not change (4%), as did the Bloco de Esquerda, which remained at 4%. The intention to vote for the Liberal Initiative fell two points, to 3%, while the intention to vote for the PAN rose one point, to 3%.

Two thirds exchanged support of 125 euros for a reduction in the IRS

In addition to Expresso, Diário de Notícias and Jornal de Notícias also publish surveys in this Friday’s editions. The survey carried out by Aximage for these newspapers reveals that the respondents fail in the package to combat inflation, “Families First”. The results show that 67% of the Portuguese would be willing to exchange the support of 125 euros, which will be paid in October, for a reduction in IRS rates.

Even so, the measure of 125 euros is the one that sticks the most in the memory of the Portuguese – 42% refer to this measure as the one they remember first, followed by support for pensioners (18%). The measures that go unnoticed the most are the reduction of taxes on fuels (2%), the reduction of the gas rate and the limit on rent increases, both at 1%.

Pensioners, for their part, disapprove of the support measure for “half pension”, with 61% rejecting the Government’s solution.

The survey also tried to take the pulse of the Portuguese on the cost of living. The vast majority (89%) report an increase in the cost of living from a year ago, while 80% anticipate that the cost of living will remain higher a year from now.

(updated with more information)

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