Majority believe that António Costa will be cleared of suspicions, poll shows

According to the Intercampus poll for CMTV/Correio da Manhã, the vast majority of Portuguese respondents don't take Operation Influencer very seriously.

71% of the Portuguese believe that Prime Minister António Costa will be cleared of influence peddling suspicions, a new Intercampus survey carried out for Correio da Manhã/CMTV.

The Prime Minister resigned last November after learning that his name had been mentioned by those involved in the Public Prosecutor’s investigation into lithium, hydrogen and data centre deals in Sines, prompting the President to dissolve the parliament and call early legislative elections for 10 March.

According to the poll, the vast majority of Portuguese people surveyed don't take Operation Influencer very seriously. However, the results also show that the public is largely indifferent to the political future of the still prime minister. Those who are interested suggested a preference for seeing António Costa as a candidate to the European Parliament rather than to the Presidency of the Republic.

Health, housing and education are the main issues highlighted by respondents, who assessed António Costa's eight years Government negatively (43.7%).

Around 42% said they had a positive opinion of the Government, especially with regard to debt management.