A majority of Greeks disapprove of their government's decision to ask for financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the first opinion poll taken since the request showed today.
The survey showed increasing pressure on Prime Minister George Papandreou's government, which has suffered a fall in voters' trust in its ability to solve a debt crisis that has threatened Athens's solvency and shaken the euro.
After weeks of resisting outside help despite investors pushing borrowing costs to record highs, Mr Papandreou bowed to market pressure on Friday and asked for Greece's euro zone partners and the IMF to activate the package.
Of 1,400 people surveyed, 60.9 per cent said they were against the government's decision, according to the poll by Greek Public Opinion (GPO) for Mega TV.
The poll showed support for Mr Papandreou personally stayed high at 50.8 per cent, only slightly lower than a GPO poll in March that showed his popularity at 52 per cent.
His PASOK party's support dipped slightly, falling to 30.6 per cent, from 31.8 in March, when the government introduced austerity measures including public wage cuts, a pension freeze and tax hikes.
Its conservative New Democracy rivals were virtually unchanged from March at 21 per cent.
But the survey showed only 31.9 per cent of respondents thought the PASOK government should stay in power to solve the crisis, while 31 per cent were in favour of a coalition between PASOK, New Democracy and a far right party.
Reuters