If presidential elections were held tomorrow, 23.2% of the population would vote for independent candidate Igor Dodon, who is supported by the Party of Socialists, while 19.7% for the Party of Action and Solidarity’s candidate Maia Sandu, Some 10.9% would vote for Our Party’s candidate Renato Usatyi, while 4.8% for Shor Party’s candidate Violeta Ivanov. The other electoral competitors would garner less than 2 of the vote.

Some 27.6% of the citizens said they would go to vote, but don’t know who to vote for, while 8.6% would not cast their ballots, shows the Public Opinion Barometer (BOP) for October 2020 that was presented in a news conference at IPN by the Institute for Public Policy (IPP).

IPP director Arcadie Barbăroșie said the citizens were asked how they would vote if particular pairs of candidates competed in the runoffs. There were chosen the first three preferred candidates of the respondents. This way, if Maia Sandu competes with Renato Usatîi, the PAS leader would win with 30% of the poll, while the leader of Our Party would get 24.5%. Another 23.3% would vote against both of the candidates, while 22% said it is hard for them to answer.

If the competition involves Igor Dodon and Renato Usatyi, 29.2% would vote for Dodon, while 28.7% for Usatyi. Another 22.4% would vote against both of them, while 19.7% said it is hard for them to answer.

If Igor Dodon contends with Maia Sandu, 32.2% would vote for Dodon, while 31.4% for Sandu. In this case, the percentage of those who would vote against both of the candidates is of 18.4%, while 18.1% said it is hard for them to answer.

67% of those surveyed consider that it does not matter if the President is a man or a woman. What is important is for them to do correct things. However, 27% said it would be better if the President is a man, while 5% pleaded for a woman. 62% of the respondents believe the President must mandatorily publish information about his/her incomes. 88% of those interviewed noted the electoral contenders should mandatorily or rather mandatorily take part in public speeches on TV. 61.5% said the President must enjoy more powers.

The survey also shows that if parliamentary elections were held next Sunday, 20.8% of those surveyed would vote for the Party of Socialists, 17.6% for the Party of Action and Solidarity, 9.6% for the Our Party, while 5.8% for the Shor Party. Other parties would gain less than 2% of the ballot.

“The PSRM, PAS, PPPN and Shor Party attracted most of the responses. However, these responses are not so many as 8.9% of the respondents said they would not cast their ballots, 24.1% said they don’t know and 7.5% didn’t answer. So, 32% of the responds, or each third asked citizen, don’t know or didn’t answer this question,” stated Arcadie Barbăroșie.

The poll was carried out by CBS Research at respondents’ homes during October 8-20 and covered a sample of 1,124 persons older than 18. The margin of sampling error is 3%.