Support among Catalan residents for the hypothetical future independence of Catalonia from the rest of Spain has fallen to 40 per cent, a record low, while 53 per cent oppose independence, an official poll conducted on Thursday showed, Euractiv reports.
The poll, conducted by Catalonia’s regional government (Generalitat), is the lowest level of support for independence since 2015, when the first such official poll was conducted. The poll, conducted by the Generalitat’s Centre for Public Opinion Research (CEO), included 2,000 interviews between June 10 – the day before the controversial amnesty law that pardoned some 300 Catalan separatists involved in illegal acts committed between 2011 and 2023 came into force – and July 8.
Compared to the previous such poll, the proportion of Catalan residents who support independence fell by two points. Opponents of independence rose by two points to a record high, with the biggest difference in favour of independence compared to 2015: 13 points.
In terms of support or rejection depending on political ideology, the “yes” to independence is overwhelmingly favoured by voters of the right-wing separatist party Together for Catalonia (JxCat), led by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, with 91%. It is followed by the left-wing separatist platform Candidatura de Unidad Popular (CUP) with 80 per cent, the left-wing separatist party Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) with 75 per cent and the far-right separatist formation Aliança Catalana with 56 per cent.
On the other hand, the anti-independence parties are mostly left-wing. The left-wing Catalunya en Comú party tops the list of those who reject such a possibility with 62%, followed by the abstention group (62%), the voters of the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC/S&D), which won the extraordinary regional elections on May 12, with 80%. Meanwhile, the far-right VOX party opposes Catalan independence with 90 %, and the centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP), the main opposition in parliament to the progressive coalition government of the PSOE and Sumar (Left), with 96 %.
Asked what the relationship between Catalonia and the Spanish state should be, 34% of respondents said they would prefer Catalonia to be an autonomous community (as it is now), 31% an independent state, 22% a state within a federal Spain, and 7% a region of Spain, the poll showed.
