ATHENS, September 11 (Reuters) - Greece's ruling Socialists continue to enjoy a comfortable lead over the conservative political opposition despite austerity policies to slash deficits, a poll published in a Sunday newspaper showed.
The poll by Kappa Research for To Vima, conducted after a cabinet reshuffle, showed the Socialists would win 29.1 percent of the vote versus 21.3 percent for the conservatives, roughly in line with other polls last month.
"Citizens are beginning to accept (the policies) as the only way to fix the economy and lead the country out of a crisis," the newspaper said.
Earlier this week Prime Minister George Papandreou reshuffled his cabinet to better deal with measures to repair public finances under an EU/IMF bailout plan, signalling he would stay the fiscal course by leaving his finance minister in place.
The nationwide poll among 1,005 respondents showed that 66 percent of those polled thought the reshuffle was aimed at preserving an intraparty balance with only 43.7 percent believing it would boost the government’s handling of the crisis.
