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- Liva & Laia : 15th November
Spain's ruling Socialists continue losing ground to the opposition Popular Party, according to a poll published on Sunday, after a general strike against government austerity measures to cut the budget.
The centre-right PP would win with a 14.5 point advantage over the centre-left PSOE, or Socialists, if elections were held now, according to the poll by Metroscopia conducted on Thursday and published in El Pais newspaper.
Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has vowed to stick with unpopular spending cuts and a reform of the labour market - making it easier for companies to hire and fire - despite Wednesday's general strike by millions of Spaniards.
He says the measures are necessary to dramatically cut the deficit, which jumped higher than 11 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, and to make Spain's economy more competitive.
The poll showed 28.5 percent support for the Socialists, down from 32.9 percent in September, and the lowest since Zapatero was re-elected in 2008.
The prime minister's term lasts until 2012 and his minority government has struck a deal with smaller parties that will allow him to pass a tough 2011 budget without triggering early elections this year.
Of those polled, 43 percent said they would vote for the Popular Party, up from 41.8 percent in September, but not as high as in July this year when the opposition had 43.3 percent support.
Although 65 percent of those polled said the strike was a failure, 58 percent said it had damaged Zapatero.
The telephone poll of 500 adults has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.