Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, has called a snap election for 29 November following large-scale housing protests across the country. A month out from the election, new YouGov data sets the scene as the country weighs up its options.
What do Spaniards think are the most important issues facing the country?
Unsurprisingly, given the ongoing protests, Spanish people are most likely to pick housing as a top issue facing the country, with over half (53%) choosing it as one of their top two most important issues.
Housing substantially outstrips all other issues, with the next highest issue – the level of immigration – chosen by 35%. Corruption and fraud follow in third place, on 28%.
A further 19% cite the healthcare system, while 15% choose the general state of the economy. All other options are chosen by fewer than 10% of Spaniards.
Looking at how people intend to vote in the upcoming election shows a clear divide.
Those who say they are voting for the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), led by Pedro Sánchez, cite housing as the biggest issue (69%), followed by healthcare (31%). Voters for the smaller left-wing Broad Front (FA) rank the issues similarly, with 73% choosing housing, 31% the healthcare system, and 25% the gap between the rich and poor.
While housing is still a key issue for voters intending to back right-wing parties, they are much less likely to choose it than their left-wing counterparts. Those who are voting for the centre-right People’s Party (PP) are similarly likely to choose either housing (49%) or immigration (44%) as top issues facing Spain, with 39% picking corruption. Housing places third for far-right Vox voters, at 31%, with this group instead much more likely to choose immigration (68%) and corruption (41%).
What do Spaniards say is the biggest factor influencing their decision to vote?
We also asked 2,175 Spaniards to tell us, in their own words, what is most influencing their decision to vote and who to vote for. We categorised the responses using our AI-powered topic quantifier model, with the results showing that the biggest factor driving decisions to vote is stopping a right-wing government (14%), followed by desire for a change of government (9%) and the issue of corruption (8%).
Opposition to a potential PP-Vox government is a major motivator on the left, with 39% of current PSOE voters saying that avoiding a right-wing government is the biggest influence on their vote.
The picture is reversed on the right: 22% of current PP voters and 15% of Vox voters cite the need for a change of government. Voters for right-wing parties are also far more likely than those who are backing left-wing parties to mention corruption – 16% and 12% among PP and Vox voters, compared to 1% among PSOE voters.
When it comes to specific policy areas, housing (7%) and immigration (6%) are the ones Spaniards mention most. Housing is brought up most often by young people: 12% of 18-24 year olds cited it in their answers, compared to 5% of the over-50s, reflecting the impact of the housing crisis being felt more keenly by young people in Spain.
Immigration is brought up most frequently by Vox voters, with a fifth (21%) citing it as the biggest influence on their vote, compared to 6% among PP voters and only 1% of PSOE voters.
Photo: Getty
