The European Union mainstream is dreading an Austrian Chancellor Herbert Kickl, but negotiations between his party and the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) are leaving the ÖVP with a clear problem. Polling shows that the FPÖ is soaring in popularity, going to nearly 40 percent, while the ÖVP has crashed to third place, at a measly 17 percent.
It is a sharp turn of fortunes for the once dominant ÖVP, which had shunned the FPÖ, claiming it could never work with the party again.
NATIONALRATSWAHL | Sonntagsfrage Market/Paul Lazarsfeld Gesellschaft/TZ ÖSTERREICH
FPÖ: 39% (+3)
SPÖ: 19%
ÖVP: 17% (-3)
NEOS: 10%
GRÜNE: 10% (+2)
KPÖ: 3%
Sonstige: 2% (-2)Änderungen zur letzten Umfrage vom 19. Dezember 2024
Verlauf: https://t.co/roFKebZlfU#nrw29 #NRWahl pic.twitter.com/OsAjaUGmcJ
— Österreich Wählt (@Wahlen_AT) January 9, 2025
The Lazarsfeld Society shows the FPÖ at a record high of 39 percent, a 3-point increase from a survey last week. During the national election last year, the FPÖ only earned 28.8 percent, enough for the party to already claim the first-place position. If the FPÖ were to secure 39 percent in a new election, it would leave the ÖVP in an even weaker negotiating position that it is already in, and leave the FPÖ with a 10-point increase in its vote count.
