The kings Philip VI And Letizia They experienced an unusual episode this Sunday when they went to Paiporta, one of the municipalities most affected by DANA, and stayed there to comfort citizens despite the risk of social unrest. This behavior is, however, well received by the population: 78% of Valencians and 76% of Spaniards believe that the monarchs did well.
This is reflected in the latest survey carried out by Sociometrica for EL ESPAÑOL. According to the investigation, the behavior of the monarchs contrasts with that of the president of the government, Pedro Sanchez. He 64.3% of Spaniards believe they have done wrong when leaving the city. In the case of Valencians, this percentage rises to 67.8%.
As Moncloa explained unofficially, the central government advised the king against traveling to Paiporta due to the high security risk that the visit could present. Eventually, the government’s fears came true and the delegation was insulted and had mudballs and blunt objects thrown at them.
Authorities’ vehicles were also violently attacked. Faced with this situation, Pedro Sánchez left the scene (Moncloa sources say he was shot in the back), but kings Felipe VI and Letizia remained there with the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazon.
The monarch’s decision to go to Paiporta was applauded by a large majority of society, according to the Sociometrica survey. Support is mainly found among the youngest: 84.8% of those under 30 believe they were right to go despite the risk.
By party, voters of the PP and Vox (93.8% in both cases) are the most convinced of having done the right thing. But Felipe VI and Letizia They also receive the support of PSOE voters: 57.9% of socialists questioned support their decision, despite criticism from the government.
However, it is among the different supporters of Pedro Sánchez that the Reyes’ decision is valued differently from the rest of society. In the case of voters from Sumar, the governing party, they are practically divided in two: 49.6% believe they did well and 49.2% believe they did badly.
Nationalist voters find themselves in a similar situation: 49.7% for and 49.5% against. Although in both cases the favored story wins, it only wins by a few tenths.
Only Podemos voters are in the majority (67.1%) according to whom the monarchs have acted badly. Furthermore, the purples are the most undecided (7.2% do not know what their opinion is on the issue, the highest figure of all parties).
In fact, PSOE partners in Congress spoke out in force this Sunday to criticize the king’s visit. Carles Puigdemont said he was “muddy”, Gabriel Rufián that he “takes people for idiots” and Ione Belarra that “his visit is pure disgust”.
The general consensus regarding the Kings’ decision to go to Paiporta is broken in the investigation when it is asked whether Pedro Sánchez was right to leave the city because of the protests while the Kings were still on the streets speaking to citizens , consoling them. .
Voters of the PSOE and its various partners consider that he did well, while voters of right-wing parties consider that he did poorly. Although there are different nuances in each case.
30.3% of PSOE voters consider that Sánchez was wrongagainst 63.3% who believe he did well. The rejection percentage among socialist voters is higher than among other parties like Sumar (19.3%) or Podemos (13.7%). It is also in the purple training that they doubt the most: 24.6% do not know if they did well or badly.
Even if among the nationalists, those who believe that Sánchez did well by abandoning Paiporta win (they are 46.9%), they do not constitute the majority and more than a third of voters (36.6%) consider that the President of the Government acted badly.
Taking into account age groups, young people under 30 are the most convinced that Sánchez did wrong. 71.5% think this way. The rejection of the young population is not a good indicator in electoral terms, since it is an important sector that maintains the support of the PSOE and could have long-term consequences.
Technical sheet
The study was carried out by the company SocioMétrica between November 3 and 4, 2024 through 1,712 random interviews extracted from its own panel of n=10,000 individuals representative of all Spanish socio-demographic segments.
The final results were finely adjusted using a weighting variable that takes into account gender, age, province and electoral memory during the last three elections.
Maximum error: 3% (SocioMétrica’s average deviation in voting in gen23 was 1.1% and in eu24 was 0.8%). No confidence level is applicable as this is non-probability sampling.
Study director: Gonzalo Adán. Doctor in political psychology and professor of psychometrics and social research techniques. SocioMétrica is a member of Insights + Analytics Spain.
