News Politics

8 out of 10 Romans would not vote for Raggi again

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

06 Nov, 2019

Opinion poll puts Giorgia Meloni as favourite for next Rome mayor.

Eight Romans out of ten would not vote for the current mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi in the local elections in 2021, according to an opinion poll conducted by Tecnè for the Dire news agency.

The survey revealed that 82 per cent of Romans interviewed gave Raggi a negative approval rating, 15 per cent were satisfied, and three per cent expressed no opinion.

The poll also asked Romans to choose from three possible mayoral candidates, with Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia (FDI), coming out as the favourite.

Meloni was followed in second place by the centre-left Carlo Calenda (head of the liberal Siamo Europei (SE) and formerly of the Partito Democratico), and in third place Alessandro Di Battista of Raggi's populist Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S).

None of these potential candidates has publicly expressed the intention of running in the next mayoral race, although Meloni was a candidate in the June 2016 election which Raggi won in a run-off against Roberto Giachetti of the PD.

The survey results for the three possible mayoral candidates are as follows: 27 per cent of Romans were in favour of Meloni as potential mayor, with 54 per cent against and 19 per cent giving no opinion. Calenda received 20 per cent approval (56 per cent against and 24 per cent no opinion), and Di Battista was backed by 12 per cent (rejected by 65 per cent with 23 per cent of no opinion).

In terms of the voting intentions of Romans, the PD came out top in Rome with 24 per cent, followed by FDI with 20 per cent, with M5S and the right-wing Lega on a joint 18 per cent.