Poll finds 43% support Ülle Madise for president

Forty-three percent of respondents support Ülle Madise becoming Estonia’s next president, while 36 percent oppose her election, ERR reported, citing a Norstat poll commissioned by the Institute for Social Research.

The support figure includes respondents who answered “yes” or “probably yes,” while the opposition figure includes those who answered “no” or “probably no.” A further 21 percent said they could not express an opinion.

Madise’s election was supported by 83 percent of Reform Party voters, 69 percent of Parempoolsed voters, 69 percent of Social Democratic Party voters and 57 percent of Isamaa voters. Among EKRE voters, 79 percent opposed her election, as did 50 percent of Centre Party voters.

Respondents were also shown a list of names that had appeared in the media in connection with the presidential election and asked whom they would like to see as the next president.

Madise was the preferred choice of 29 percent, followed by Mart Helme with 12 percent, Tiit Land with 9 percent, Hannes Hanso with 5 percent, Indrek Neivelt with 3 percent, Jüri Luik with 2 percent, Riho Ühtegi with 2 percent and Jonatan Vseviov with 2 percent.

Maive Rute was selected by 0.6 percent, Indrek Laul by 0.3 percent and Matti Maasikas by 0.2 percent. Fifteen percent said they would prefer another candidate, while 20 percent had no preference.

Most respondents support direct presidential elections

The poll also asked whether Estonia’s president should be elected by the people. Seventy percent answered “yes” or “probably yes,” while 22 percent answered “probably no” or “no.” Eight percent could not say.

Support for direct presidential elections stood at 97 percent among EKRE voters, 88 percent among Centre Party voters, 74 percent among Isamaa voters and 54 percent among Parempoolsed voters.

Among Reform Party voters, 43 percent supported direct elections and an equal share opposed them. Fifty-four percent of Social Democratic Party supporters opposed direct presidential elections.

In addition, 66 percent of respondents said the new president should initiate a draft amendment to the Constitution allowing the public to elect the president directly. Twenty-three percent said the new president should not do so.

Norstat conducted the online poll among Estonian citizens aged 18 and over on August 19 and 20. A total of 1,002 people took part.