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INSCOP poll: AUR - 38.2%; PNL moves into 2nd place with 20.3%; PSD - 17.5%

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The National Liberal Party (PNL) went up to second place in voting preferences for the parliamentary elections, behind the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and ahead of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), according to the Informat.ro - INSCOP Research Barometer conducted between 11 and 14 May 2026.

According to the sociological survey, 38.2% of voters would vote for AUR (compared with 37% in April 2026, 38% in March, 40.9% in January, 38% in November, 40% in October, 40.8% in September, 40.5% in June and 38.11% in May 2025). In second place is the PNL with 20.3% (compared with 15.5% in April 2026, 14.5% in March, 13.5% in January, 14.6% in November, 14.8% in October, 15.2% in September, 17.3% in June and 16% in May 2025).

Third in voter preferences is the PSD with 17.5% (compared with 20.1% in April 2026, 19.2% in March, 18.2% in January, 19.5% in November, 17.6% in October, 17.9% in September, 13.7% in June and 17.4% in May 2025), followed by the Save Romanian Union (USR) with 10% (compared with 12.7% in April 2026, 11.4% in March, 11.7% in January, 12.3% in November, 11.5% in October, 12.8% in September, 13.1% in June and 12.2% in May 2025).

Some 5% of voters would vote for the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) (compared with 4.3% in April 2026, 4% in March, 4.9% in January, 4.8% in November, 5.2% in October, 4% in September, 5.2% in June and 4.5% in May 2025), while 2.9% would vote for SOS Romania (compared with 2.8% in April 2026, 3.3% in March, 2.8% in January, 1.7% in November, 2% in October, 2.8% in September and 1.9% in June 2025).

Health, Education, Nature, Sustainability (SENS) party would obtain 2.5% (compared with 2.4% in April 2026, 3.6% in March, 4% in January, 3.2% in November, 3.4% in October, 2.1% in September and 2.4% in June 2025), while the Party of Young People (POT) would receive 1.9% of voters' support (compared with 3.6% in April 2026, 3% in March 2026, 5% in January, 3.1% in November, 2.6% in October, 3.3% in September and 4.2% in June 2025).

In addition, 0.9% of voters express a preference for an independent candidate (compared with 1% in April 2026, 1.4% in March, 2% in January, 1% in November, 1.3% in October, 0.6% in September and 1.4% in June 2025), while the same percentage would vote for another party (compared with 0.7% in April 2026, 1.6% in March, 1.1% in January, 1.8% in November, 1.6% in October, 0.6% in September and 0.5% in June 2025).

The data are reported for those who expressed a preference for a party on the list, regardless of whether they declared they would definitely vote or not, representing 77.4% of the total sample.

Among those who expressed a preference for a party on the list and said that they would definitely vote, representing 57.9% of the total sample, the PNL also maintains second place.

Thus, 41.4% of those expressing a voting intention would vote for AUR, 21.9% for the PNL, 13.3% for the PSD and 10.8% for the USR. Some 3.4% of voters would opt for the UDMR, 3.1% for SOS Romania, 2.3% for SENS and 1.7% for POT. Meanwhile, 0.9% of respondents would choose an independent candidate and 1.1% another party.

Regarding estimated turnout for the parliamentary elections, the survey shows that on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means 'definitely will not vote' and 10 means 'definitely will vote', 15.2% of Romanians chose definitely not, while 67.4% indicated definitely yes.

'The motion of no confidence caused strong polarisation within Romanian society, which triggered a significant rise for the PNL, driven by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, whose popularity increased rapidly and somewhat unexpectedly,' said INSCOP Research Director Remus Stefureac.

According to him, 'on the other hand, it can still be noticed that the variation in electoral support for the major political blocs from April to May is not yet very large, neither among voters who choose a party (the AUR - SOS - POT bloc remains at 43%, the PNL - USR bloc rises slightly by two percentage points from 28% to 30%, while the PSD loses three points from 20% to 17%), nor among mobilised voters (the AUR - SOS - POT bloc rises from 45% to 46%, the PNL - USR bloc from 31% to 33%, while the PSD loses three points from 16% to 13%).'

'What is interesting is that compared with the situation one year ago (May 2025), the AUR, the PSD and the UDMR are practically at the same score, while the PNL gains four percentage points and the USR falls by two points,' Stefureac further explained.

The 11th edition of the Informat.ro - INSCOP Research Barometer is a monthly opinion poll carried out by INSCOP Research at the request of the Informat.ro news platform in partnership with the Strategic Thinking Group think tank.

The data were collected between 11 and 14 May 2026. Research method: interview-based questionnaire. The data were gathered using the CATI method (telephone interviews), with a simple random sample of 1,100 people, representative of Romania's non-institutionalised population aged 18 and over across significant socio-demographic categories (gender, age and occupation). The maximum margin of error is ±3% at a 95% confidence level. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Alina Novaceanu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)

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