A majority of Spaniards have rated Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s handling of the July 30-31 migrant surge into Ceuta as poor, while nearly nine in ten hold Morocco primarily responsible, according to a 40dB poll published on September 7 for El País and radio station Cadena SER.
The survey of 2,000 people interviewed online found 62.7 per cent judged Sánchez’s response “bad” or “very bad”, with 49.9 per cent saying “very bad”.
Some 14.2 per cent rated it positively. Two-thirds said the government’s reaction was too slow, with 47.7 per cent calling its speed “very bad”.
Respondents assigned “a lot” or “quite a lot” of responsibility first to Morocco (89 per cent), then to people-trafficking networks (75 per cent), disinformation on social media (74 per cent), the migrants who crossed (73 per cent) and the Spanish government (72 per cent).
The poll also showed a shift in voting intentions.
The centre-right People’s Party (PP) stood at 32.4 per cent and Vox at 17.8 per cent, giving a potential right-wing combination 50.2 per cent.
This would be the first time such an alliance has crossed 50 per cent in a 40dB survey during the current legislature. The two stood at 49.2 per cent in the pollster’s last barometer before the summer, in July.
Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) slipped to 27.6 per cent. The centre-left bloc overall fell to 36.1 per cent, from 36.9 per cent.
Twenty-seven per cent named Vox the party best equipped to handle immigration, ahead of the Socialists (18.4 per cent) and the PP (13.9 per cent).
Seven in ten favoured tighter border controls even if that meant fewer vulnerable people entering. Some 81.7 per cent supported more fencing and surveillance and 81.4 per cent backed faster returns of irregular migrants.
Some 53.6 per cent now view immigration as more negative than positive, against 33.1 per cent who see it as more positive.
The mood in Spain has shifted since about 72,000 people entered the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31, according to interior ministry estimates, many by swimming around the Tarajal breakwater.
At least 88 people died, most by drowning or in crushes at the fence, according to the government delegation in Ceuta.
Most of those who crossed went back to Morocco within days. Several thousand, including unaccompanied minors, remain in the city of roughly 85,000 residents.
The interior ministry has put the number still in Ceuta at about 5,000, while the city government gives a figure of 9,000. Local authorities have described the situation as unsustainable. Protests and some clashes have continued.
Sánchez has called the crossings an attack on Spain’s territorial integrity but has repeatedly said there is no evidence Morocco orchestrated them, while praising Rabat’s subsequent cooperation. He ordered army units to back up the Guardia Civil and the National Police.
Interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has maintained the same line.
Opposition parties on the right have accused the government of failing to act on intelligence warnings and of being too accommodating towards Morocco.
A police report sent to investigating judge María Tardón, reported by Spanish media in early September, concluded that Moroccan agents had planned and guided the mass entry. It cited a risk analysis dated July 28 warning of a possible mass crossing at Ceuta on July 30.
Vox has authorised a criminal complaint against Sánchez and Grande-Marlaska.
The surge followed a Supreme Court ruling on July 8 that summary returns apply only to those stopped at physical barriers such as fences, and that people intercepted at sea must go through the ordinary procedure.
Italy and Denmark have led a letter signed by 22 member states calling for a tougher EU migration policy and stronger external borders.
Before the migration crisis, Sánchez was already struggling with corruption investigations involving close associates and family members.
COMMENT: Sánchez leads Spain away from the Western alliance, writes @ConradMBlack https://t.co/u6RjkYvIqp
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