Social Democrats forge ahead in popularity ratings

Opinion polls indicate that the opposition Social Democrats have outstripped the ruling party in popularity ratings. The results of a poll conducted by the STEM agency suggest that if elections were held today the Social Democrats would come out the winner with 35 percent of the vote. The ruling Civic Democrats would gain a mere 28 percent, followed by the Communists with 16.5 percent. The ruling party is attributing the sudden slide in popularity to the fact that it has been forced to implement painful reforms. A separate poll conducted by the CVVM agency confirms the turn-about in public support.