Most Spaniards think monarchy ‘out of date’

24 June 2004

MADRID –Most Spaniards believe the monarchy is out of date, according to a survey published Thursday.

For the first time in Spain’s history, an important survey asked if respondents agreed with the suggestion ‘Do they think the monarchy is out of date?’ 

Fifty-five percent said they agreed with this, while only 24 percent said they disagreed with the proposal.

The finding comes just over a month after the Royal wedding of Crown Prince Felipe and former TV journalist Letizia Ortiz.

The main finding of the survey was that unemployment has become the main worry for most Spaniards ahead of terrorism and house prices.

The Centre for Sociological Investigations conducted the poll last month which found that almost two-thirds of Spaniards believe the job market is the most important problem confronting them today.

Just over half of those polled – or 51.9 percent – said terrorism or ETA was the second biggest concern.

After this, only 23.7 percent or under a quarter of the respondents said that house prices were their biggest worry.

The poll was conducted across Spain between 27-31 May among 2,500 people.

The poll suggests that the concerns of the average Spaniard have changed.

During March and April, most Spaniards said terrorism was their main concern, according to two polls conducted during these months.

The CIS said that concerns about terrorism had fallen 14 percent during May compared to the month before.

Other worries were security (18.7 percent), immigration (16.1), economic problems (12.8), drugs (7.7 percent) and domestic violence (7.2 percent).

The war in Iraq and the 11 March terrorist attacks were no longer considered the main concerns. Both had fallen by 3.5 percent and 0.2 percent in comparison with previous polls.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news