VOX is on the rise in Spain, steadily gaining ground since the 2023 general election. A fresh poll from El País puts the nationalist party at 14.2%, up from the 12% it secured last July. Meanwhile, Spain’s two dominant establishment parties—the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) and the center-right Partido Popular (PP)—are losing steam.
Young voters are fueling VOX’s momentum. Among those aged 18 to 34, it’s the top choice, and in the 18-to-24 age group, its lead is striking—27.4%, well ahead of PSOE’s 15% and PP’s 11%. “VOX continues to grow and consolidate its position as the leading force among young people,” the party declared on X. “The future is ours.”
At the same time, PSOE is struggling. After repeated corruption scandals, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s party is polling at just 28.4%, over three points lower than its last election result. It’s now the favorite only among voters over 55. PP, while still leading overall with 32.6%, has also slipped slightly since the election. Its core base is even older than PSOE’s, winning only among those over 65.
VOX’s rise is reshaping the right. PP has already lost 9% of its 2023 voters to the nationalist party, a shift that, if it continues, could reshape Spain’s political landscape in the coming years.
The biggest loser, though, is the far-left Sumar, PSOE’s junior coalition partner. The party has hemorrhaged more than half its support since the election, sinking from 12.4% to 5.9%. Podemos, which broke away from Sumar, sits at 3.4%, while the small conservative party SALF (ECR) has dipped below the 3% threshold needed for parliamentary representation.
VOX’s growing clout isn’t just a domestic story. On the international stage, its leader, Santiago Abascal, now heads Patriots.eu, the group behind the EU Parliament’s Patriots faction. Later this week, he’ll host a high-profile rally in Madrid alongside Marine Le Pen and Viktor Orbán, all rallying behind a shared mission: “making Europe great again.”
