Survey: Voting intentions for Romanian Social Democrats fall following no-confidence motion
The Romanian Social Democratic Party, or PSD, was surpassed in terms of voting intentions by the National Liberal Party, or PNL, for the first time in six years, after it voted for the dismissal of the Ilie Bolojan government together with the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, according to a recent INSCOP survey.
As the leader of the party, Ilie Bolojan’s popularity helped PNL reach 20% in voting intentions, while the Social Democrats fell into third with 17.5% support. AUR, meanwhile, maintained its dominant leadership position with 38% support.
PNL’s partners, the Save Romanian Union Party (USR), are also in decline, falling to 10%, while the minority Hungarian party UDMR remains in its usual range of 3–5%.
The INSCOP survey is particularly relevant, considering talks of snap elections if a majority cannot be reached in Parliament to back a new government. However, the survey showed that no clear majority would be in sight even if new elections are held, as the centrist parties reject cooperating with AUR, and the center-right parties, PNL and USR, refuse to form another coalition with PSD.
“The no-confidence motion has caused a strong polarization of Romanian society, which led to a significant increase in PNL, carried by prime minister Ilie Bolojan, whose popularity has grown rapidly and somewhat unexpectedly. Interestingly, compared to the situation one year ago (May 2025), AUR, PSD, and UDMR are practically at the same scores, while PNL increases by 4% and USR decreases by 2%,” explained the director of INSCOP Research.
Around 15.2% of Romanians surveyed said they will definitely not go to vote if elections are called, while around 77% said they would certainly go to vote.
BAROMETRUL Informat.ro – INSCOP Research, 11th edition, was conducted between May 11–14, 2026, through a questionnaire-based interview. Data were collected through CATI (telephone interviews), with a simple random sample of 1,100 people, representative of significant socio-demographic categories (sex, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania aged 18 and over. The maximum margin of error is ±3%, at a 95% confidence level.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos|Pana Tudor)
