Lithuanians see Nausėda, Šimonytė as their potential new president – survey

Carried out on Oct. 5-14 and published on Saturday, the survey by Vilmorus for the Lietuvos Rytas daily showed that 23 percent considered economist Gitanas Nausėda to be the best president aspirant, compared to 22.3 percent in September.

Meanwhile, Šimonytė jumped to the second place from the fourth, leaving Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and diplomat Vygaudas Ušackas, who is vying against Šimonytė in the TS-LKD primaries, behind.

17.5 percent believe Šimonytė is the best presidential aspirant. A month earlier, there were 10 percent of them.

“Gitanas Nausėda remains the first, without any major changes. Ingrida Šimonytė is the second, with very energetic dynamics being observed in her case. She’s got 17.5 percent, which is less than Nausėda, but she’s advancing fast,” Vladas Gaidys, head of Vilmorus, told BNS Lithuania.

Meanwhile, the popularity of Prime Minister Skvernelis, who has not announced his decision on running for president yet, dropped from 16.6 percent to 12.8 percent.

10.5 percent mentioned Ušackas as the best presidential aspirant (12.9 percent in September). 8.9 percent mentioned Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis, (7.8 percent in September), followed by philosopher Arvydas Juozaitis with 4.7 percent (3.3 percent), MP and economist Aušra Maldeikienė with 2.9 percent (3 percent) and MP Naglis Puteikis with 2.4 percent (2.8 percent).