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

Nearly nine in 10 Spaniards hold Morocco primarily responsible for the mass migrant crossings into Ceuta in late July, but the political fallout has also hit Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government.

A 40dB poll of 2,000 people for El Pais and radio station SER found that a majority described Sanchez's handling of the crisis as bad or very bad. Only 14.2% rated his response positively, while two-thirds said it had come too slowly.

Respondents assigned responsibility to Morocco at 89%, followed by human-trafficking groups at 75% and disinformation on social media at 74%. Some 73% blamed migrants who chose to cross, while 72% attributed responsibility to the Spanish government.

The poll also recorded a shift in voting intentions. Support for the People's Party and Vox together reached 50.2%, putting a potential right-wing alliance above 50% for the first time in a poll during the current legislature. The center-left bloc stood at 36.1%. The People's Party rose to 32.4% from 32% in July, while Vox climbed to 17.8% from 17.2%. Sanchez's Socialist Party slipped to 27.6% from 28%.

Immigration emerged as a particular strength for Vox. About 27% of respondents said it was the party most capable of dealing with the issue, ahead of the Socialists at 18.4% and the People's Party at 13.9%. Seven in 10 favored tighter border controls over protecting vulnerable migrants, and 82% backed more fences and surveillance along Spain's borders.