Majority of Spaniards unhappy with government's handling of Ceuta crisis, poll shows

Nearly nine out of ten Spaniards hold Morocco responsible for the surge of migrant crossings into Ceuta in late July, according to a recent poll. A majority of those surveyed, 40dB, also rated Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's response to the crisis as "bad" or "very bad." This sentiment contributed to a decrease in support for Sanchez's party.

The poll, conducted among 2,000 individuals for El Pais newspaper and radio station SER, revealed a growing preference for the conservative and far-right Vox party. Moralisations of responsibility for the crisis shifted towards Morocco, human-trafficking groups, disinformation on social media, the migrants themselves, and the Spanish government, with Spanish officials receiving the highest blame at 72%.

Only 14.2% of respondents praised Sanchez's handling of the situation, with most criticizing his response as being too slow. The combined voting intentions for the conservative People's Party and Vox reached 50.2%, marking their potential right-wing alliance as the first to breach the 50% mark in an opinion poll during this legislature.

Meanwhile, the center-left bloc dropped to 36.1%, while Sanchez's Socialist Party fell to 27.6%. About 27% of respondents identified Vox as the most capable party in addressing immigration concerns, followed by the Socialists at 18.4% and the PP at 13.9%. A majority of respondents, 70%, favored stricter border controls over protecting vulnerable migrants, and 82% supported increasing fences and surveillance at Spain's borders.