As 2025 comes to an end, public opinion in Greece is marked by growing insecurity and uncertainty, according to the latest GPO Barometer survey conducted for Parapolitika Radio.
Only 35.3% of respondents believe the country is moving in the right direction, a decline of about seven percentage points compared with 2024. At the same time, pessimism has intensified, with 64.6% now saying Greece is on the wrong path, up from 54.4% a year earlier. This shift is also reflected in assessments of the year as a whole: just over one third of Greeks, 35.2%, consider 2025 to have been a good year for the country, down from 41.7% in 2024.
Perceptions of the national economy remain broadly stable. Around 22.2% expect economic conditions to improve, 30% anticipate stagnation and 47.1% foresee a deterioration. Views on personal finances are somewhat more optimistic than last year, with 21.7% expecting improvement, 42.3% predicting stability and 33.5% anticipating a worsening of their own economic situation.
Looking ahead to the new year, insecurity is the most prevalent emotion, cited by 37.1% of respondents. It is followed by hope at 26.4% and optimism at 24.3%, while 10.5% express pessimism. Overall, positive and negative feelings are almost evenly balanced, with 50.7% expressing positive expectations and 47.6% negative ones. The results point to a divided society, where income levels and political affiliation strongly influence how people interpret current conditions and future prospects.
On the global stage, the development most frequently cited by Greeks as significant in 2025 is the end of hostilities in Gaza, mentioned by 33% of respondents. The rapid advance of artificial intelligence follows at 26.8%, seen not as a single event but as a sweeping transformation affecting daily life. Interventions by US President Donald Trump aimed at ending the Russia–Ukraine war are cited by 18%, while 8.2% highlight the imposition of US trade tariffs. Taken together, these responses underline Trump’s prominence in the international arena, with many viewing him as the most influential political figure in the world today.
In domestic politics, the most consequential event of the year is widely seen as the OPEKEPE scandal, related to the management of agricultural subsidies, which 40.6% of respondents identify as the defining political development of 2025. Nationwide rallies linked to the Tempi train disaster follow at 27.6%. Energy agreements signed by Greece are singled out by 11.8% of respondents, while ongoing farmers’ protests account for 7.4%. A further 7.3% point to the election of Greece’s finance minister, Kostis Pierakakis, as president of the Eurogroup.
For the second year in a row, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is named Political Figure of the Year, with 25.5% of respondents selecting him. He is followed by Pierakakis at 17.2%, former prime minister Alexis Tsipras at 16.3%, opposition leader Zoe Konstantopoulou at 10.3%, and Maria Karystianou at 7.9%.
One of the survey’s most striking findings concerns the farmers’ protests that have dominated public debate in recent weeks. A large majority, 85.1%, consider farmers’ demands to be fair, while 64.8% also justify the methods used, including the blocking of major highways. At present, these mobilisations appear to enjoy broad public tolerance, particularly in light of ongoing revelations linked to the OPEKEPE scandal, which have reinforced sympathy for the agricultural sector.
The broader mood is also reflected in voting intentions. Support for the governing New Democracy party has declined by 1.5 percentage points, falling to 23.7% in the final month of the year from 25.2% previously. PASOK follows with 12.3%, slightly down from 12.6%, while the right-wing Greek Solution remains in third place with a steady 10.1%. The main beneficiary of recent developments appears to be the Freedom Sail party, whose support has risen sharply, from 5.8% in November to 8.5%.
