Leftists, eurosceptics, and christian democrats are losing support in Europe

Polls from across the European Union show declining support for the parties belonging to GUE/NGL, EFDD, and EPP groups in the European Parliament in the past two months.

Published On: March 13th, 2019
Leftists, eurosceptics, and christian democrats are losing support in Europe_62ccb1c8b1c39.jpeg
Leftists, eurosceptics, and christian democrats are losing support in Europe_62ccb1c8b1c39.jpeg

Leftists, eurosceptics, and christian democrats are losing support in Europe

Polls from across the European Union show declining support for the parties belonging to GUE/NGL, EFDD, and EPP groups in the European Parliament in the past two months.

European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) is the group that seems to be taking the biggest hit. It is down by 0.7 points to 7.5 percent. Here are some of the national parties belonging to GUE/NGL that are particularly losing ground:

  • Podemos (Spain): -3.7 points to 12.4 percent
  • Levica (Slovenia): -1.2 points to 8.5 percent
  • La France insoumise (France): -1.2 points to 8.6 percent

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) and the European People’s Party (EPP) are also down in the latest polls by 0.7 and 0.2 points.

The EP group with the biggest increase across the continent is the social democratic S&D. The national parties of this group are collectively up by 0.4 points. These are the national parties of S&D that have made the largest gains:

  • Partido Socialista Obrero Español – PSOE (Spain): +3 points to 26.8 percent
  • Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – SPD (Germany): +1.9 points to 17.0 percent
  • Socialdemokraterne (Denmark): +1.4 points to 27.2 percent

Parties that are currently not in the European Parliament and are yet to choose an EP group, are also gaining support, now sitting at 8.1 percent across the union.

Polling support for EU parliament groups at the end of February

EP group Support 2-month change
ALDE 14.5% +0.1 points
ECR 8.1% 0 points
EFDD 5.2% -0.7 points
ENF 8.3% +0.2 points
EPP 22.7% -0.2 points
GUE/NGL 7.5% -0.7 points
Greens/EFA 6.7% +0.1 points
S&D 17.7% +0.4 points
non-affiliated 1.1% 0 points
new or uncategorized 8.1% +1.1 points

One of the big trends observers expect to see in the 2019 elections is the rise of populist, nationalist and eurosceptic parties. The three EP groups that can be said to partly or completely fall under this umbrella (ENF, EFDD and ECR) currently poll at 21.7 percent, compared to 9.5 percent in the previous election. Note that Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) was launched in 2015.

Results in 2014 European elections

EP group Vote share in 2014
ALDE 9.3%
ECR 6.4%
EFDD 3.1%
EPP 28.4%
GUE/NGL 7.4%
Greens/EFA 6.4%
S&D 22.5% </