The polls commissioned by Barcelona City Council leave a list of duties for the new mayor, the socialist Jaume Collboni. The 2023 municipal services survey, drawn up between January 19 and April 17, and the barometer conducted between May 30 and June 8, that is, between the local elections and the inauguration of the mayor, once again reflect the concern of Barcelona residents about what they consider to be the main problems of the Catalan capital: insecurity, dirt and difficulties in accessing affordable housing.
Immovable since the 2018 edition, insecurity appears again at the top of the ranking of Barcelona’s problems in the services survey, a macro-survey carried out by the company Gesop based on 6,000 home interviews with residents of the city without taking into account their nationality. It is the problem mentioned spontaneously by 22.7% of those interviewed, the highest percentage since this survey began in 1989. Dirt (13.2%) and difficult access to housing complete the podium of citizens’ concerns. These issues are repeated in another more recent survey, the post-election barometer, which places insecurity as the number one problem in Barcelona (cited by 26.6% of respondents), followed in this case by housing (11.6%) and the lack of cleanliness (9.9%).
These are the three main problems and also the three issues in which the people of Barcelona believe that their City Council should act preferentially. This is what they say in the services survey: 13.7% ask the municipal government to reduce levels of insecurity, 13.5% to improve cleaning, and 8.5% to facilitate access to housing. In the presentation of the two surveys, the first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, already suggested that the socialists have taken note and that, consequently, they have marked these three demands as priorities for their work of government, and also the improvement of the perception that the inhabitants of the Catalan capital have of their own city
Regarding the problems that most affect them personally, the interviewees indicate first, also as is customary even in times of relative prosperity, those of an economic nature (14.9%), followed by public insecurity (10.9%), unemployment and working conditions (9.8%) and housing (7.6%).
Despite the problems, the satisfaction expressed by Barcelona residents for living in their city remains high. The interviewees gave it a score of 7.2 out of 10 in the services survey, slightly below the 7.4 of the 2022 edition. However, although they are optimistic about the future, more than half of Barcelona residents (58%) continue to think that the city has gotten worse in the last year, while 30.2% consider that it has improved.
With regard to the management of the governments at the different levels of the administration, that of the Barcelona City Council, at that time presided over by Ada Colau and with the support of the PSC, obtained the highest score, of 5.7 out of 10, the same as in the 2022 survey. The Government of the Generalitat received a grade of 5.6 and the Government of Pedro Sánchez approved with a 5.1.
The s erveis survey places the fire department as the service most valued by Barcelona residents for another year, with an 8 out of 10. With a 7.8, there are public libraries. They are followed by civic centers (7.2), markets, the metro, tram, bus and cultural activities, all with a rating of 7.2. Approved adjusted for safety management and only two suspensions, for driving (4.9) and for parking (3.9).
The service survey is complemented this time with the barometer that the City Council commissions every six months. The field work, based on 808 telephone interviews, in this case persons with the right to vote in the municipal councils, was carried out just after those elections, when Xavier Trias seemed to have all the numbers to gain access to the mayor’s office which, finally, thanks to the support of the commons and the people, would end up in the hands of the socialist Jaume Collboni.
According to this Opinometer survey, Trias was the candidate most accepted by the people of Barcelona to become mayor. The one who was mayor of Barcelona during the period 2011-2105, before handing over the baton to Ada Colau, was the favorite for the position for 44.5% of those interviewed, well above Jaume Collboni (18.3%), Ada Colau (12.7%) and Ernest Maragall (2.1%).
Regarding the preferences for a municipal government, deTrias alone appears in first position (14.7%), followed by the left-wing tripartite (PSC, BComú, ERC), with 13.4%. This is followed by other combinations such as the bipartite Trias PSC (9.1%), the PSC BComú pact (7%) and an independentist government of Junts and ERC (6.5%).
That the Junts candidate had the support of many Barcelona residents to regain the mayoralty is evidenced by his victory at the polls and also other results of this post-election survey. When evaluating the municipal leaders, the winner of the last election is the one who gets the best score, with a 5.3 out of 10, ahead of Ernest Maragall (5.1), Jaume Collboni (4.6), Ada Colau (4.5), Daniel Sirera (2.9) and the Vox candidate, Gonzalo de Oro-Pulido (1.4).
The barometer indicates that the municipal election campaign was followed by Barcelona residents with less interest than in 2019. 37.6% of those interviewed were very or very interested, while 56.2% showed little or no interest.
The campaign carried out by Trias is also the most highly rated: 44.6% of respondents rate it as good or very good; that of the PSC receives a positive assessment from 36.7% of Barcelona residents, and that of Colau, from 35.3%.
Regarding which candidate the abstentionists would have voted for if they had decided to go to the polls, 13.2% say that the chosen one would have been that of Ada Colau; 11.3% would have opted for Xavier Trias; 7.8%, for CKD; 7.6%, for the PP, and 6.6%, for the PSC.
When casting their vote in the municipal elections, Barcelona residents say that the factor that most influenced their decision was the city project (40.8%), followed by the party’s ideology (37.8%) and the candidate (15.9%).