A poll conducted by IPSOS on request from VMRO-DPMNE shows that the party leader and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski is by far the most popular politician in the country. It also shows the country and ethnic Macedonians evenly divided on the question whether they support amending the Constitution in line with the Bulgarian demands but with delayed effect.

According to the poll, Mickoski is supported by 27.8 percent of the citizens and VMRO-DPMNE would win 26 percent of the vote. SDSM, DUI and the VLEN coalition are tied in second place with 7 percent each, followed by Levica with 5 percent. DUI leader Ali Ahmeti is the second most popular politician, far behind Mickoski with 8.6 percent, while newly elected SDSM leader Venko Filipce is supported by 5.5 percent of the voters (1.5 percent of them have opted for former SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski, former President Stevo Pendarovski got 1 percent, as did former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski). Levica leader Dimitar Apasiev and ZNAM leader Maksim Dimitrievski got about 4 percent of the votes of the 1,005 people who were polled.

Mickoski’s proposal that Macedonia amends the Constitution with delayed effect – entering into force after Bulgaria ratifies Macedonia’s EU membership, is supported by 52 percent of the citizens, while 39 percent are opposed. Among ethnic Macedonians, 49 percent are against the idea, and 42 percent support it. Albanian votes are divided 19 percent in favor to 75 percent opposed. Asked whether they support the amendments if the European Parliament gives guarantees on the Macedonian language and national identity and Bulgaria begins to respect minority rights of ethnic Macedonians, 57 percent opt in favor and 37 percent are against. The current proposal, that Macedonia must deliver the constitutional changes now, which many fear will lead to additional Bulgarian demands down the line, is supported by only 28 percent of the voters, and opposed by 53 percent.

Optimism is growing in the public – a total of 50 percent of the voters said that they see the country moving in a positive direction (replies were evenly divided between positive and somewhat positive), while 12.5 percent see the country going in a somewhat negative direction and 24.3 percent opted for “negative”. Views on the new Government were positive – 28.4 percent, somewhat positive – 27.1 percent, somewhat negative – 9.3 percent and negative – 21.6 percent. Based on the first 100 days in office, 51.1 percent believe that the new Government will do a better job than the previous one, while 12.7 percent think it will do worse and 28.6 think that the effects will be the same.