The assessment that the people of Barcelona make of its mayor, Ada Colau, continues to decline but, nevertheless, her formation, Barcelona en Comú, maintains the best expectations to win the elections on May 28, 2023, the result of which will depend on great measure of how the undecided vote that is observed at the moment, which is very high, is chosen. This follows from the City Council’s summer barometer that was presented this Monday, according to which the interviewees rate the first Barcelona mayor with a fail, 4.1 out of 10, but the commons have the greatest intention to vote ( 11.9%), slightly ahead of ERC (10.9%) and far behind its government partner, the PSC (7.5%)
Ada Colau’s 4.1 is the lowest score for a mayor in office, equaling that of the socialist Jordi Hereu in June 2010. The Republican Ernest Maragall continues to be the highest rated leader, with 5.2, the same score as in the previous barometer, that of December 2021. He also approves, with a 5, the new municipal president of Junts, Neus Munté, who has replaced Elsa Artadi at the head of this formation. The socialist Jaume Collboni repeats note (4.7). The rest of the leaders of the opposition groups do not reach a 4: Luz Guilarte (Citizens) and Eva Parera (Valents) obtain a 3.7 and the worst grade is for the leader of the Popular Party, Josep Bou, with a 3.
Regarding the intention to vote, according to the Barcelona City Council survey, BComú remains in the lead with 11.9%, notably lower, however, than the 14.8% of the previous barometer. Following is ERC, with 10.9%, seven tenths more than in December. The PSC improves one tenth to reach a 7.5% vote intention. And much further away are the rest of the formations: Junts (3.4%), the CUP, which has no representation in the current consistory, with 2.9%, the PP (1.7%) Vox, with 1 .1% (also does not currently have any councilors) and Citizens (0.8%).
The City Council survey, as is the norm in the barometer, does not estimate the vote and distribution of seats. In this installment, a fact that could have a great impact on the result of the elections next May is very striking: the very high percentage of undecided voters. When asked what option they would choose if the municipal elections were held at this time, 35.8% said they did not know and another 9.7% did not answer. To them we must add 11.9% who already declare abstentionists and another 1.6% who assure that they will vote blank or null.
The management of the Barcelona City Council is considered bad or very bad by almost half of those interviewed, 47.1%, a percentage that is, however, lower than in the previous survey, which was 49.4%. 38.9% believe that this work has been done well or very well, a value slightly higher than that of six months ago (37.4%).
On the other hand, six out of ten interviewees, 60.1%, believe that the city has worsened in the last year (in the barometer of last December they were 63.8%) and in terms of future prospects, the pessimism gains ground. 30.8% believe that things will get worse (29.2% six months ago) and 54.2% better (58.6% in the previous installment of the survey).
In the list of the city’s main problems, insecurity remains prominent in the first place, and the percentage is rising (it is already 22%). Cleaning, despite the start-up of the new contract, also grows as a problem and occupies the second position, with 11.5%. The sum of traffic congestion (5.7%) and traffic management and organization (3.4%) places mobility problems in third place on this black list, ahead of access to housing or tourism, which, coinciding with its reactivation, is also increasingly perceived as a problem.
