It has been more than 15 years since Pasqual Maragall left the Palau de la Generalitat (2003-2006), a legislature before Jordi Pujol did so after 23 years as head of the Government (1980-2003). Given this, the Center d'Estudis d'Opinió (CEO) has decided to look back and include a question in its latest barometer to assess the legacy left by the former presidents, the PSC, the first, and CiU, the second. And both approve, although the former mayor of Barcelona does so with a better grade and gathering sympathy in a wider range of parties.
Specifically, 58% of those surveyed value Maragall's legacy as very good or good, to which must be added 9% who consider it neither good nor bad. Only 14% suspend the former socialist president with a bad or very bad assessment and 19% do not speak out.
In the case of Jordi Pujol, whose legacy has been blurred by his confession, in 2014, that he had hidden a family inheritance in Andorra for 34 years, the figures are lower. 43% applaud his legacy as good or very good, to which is added 7% who do not see it as good or bad, just enough for a low pass. Unlike Maragall, of whom only 14% described his legacy as bad or very bad, Pujol was suspended by 37% of those surveyed and 13% did not answer.
However, the assessment of the legacy of both former presidents bears similarities, especially depending on the age of who examines them. Both Maragall and Pujol remain in low approval records among those under 35 years of age –only 38.5% to Maragall and 29.5% to Pujol–, although in both cases it is due, above all, to profound ignorance of his legacy, even more so in the case of the socialist –almost half of those surveyed, 46%, say they do not know of the legacy of the leader of the first tripartite.
On the other hand, both also pass among those over 35 years of age. Relevant is the case of Maragall, who gets a very good grade among the oldest, given that up to 70% of those over 64 value his legacy as good or very good and only 9% dismiss it as bad or very bad. .
For his part, Pujol also obtains a better evaluation among those over 35 years of age, always in figures of between 46 and 49% of good or very good evaluation, to which add between 5 and 10% that manifests neutral, neither good nor bad, to reach the fair approval. Even so, more than one in three respondents over the age of 35 makes clear their rejection of the legacy of the former CiU leader –always more than double that in the case of Maragall.
The legacy test shows differences by age, but these gaps widen even further when viewed through the lens of political sympathy. In other words, Pujol achieves a better evaluation among the voters of Junts per Catalunya –the most successful brand that emerged from the split from CiU–, and three out of four supporters of Carles Puigdemont's party value the legacy of the convergent former leader as good or very good and only 11% suspend it. ERC voters are the only others who approve of Pujol, with 60% applauding his legacy as positive.
Curiously, the next ones to best assess Pujol, already with two failures, are the PP and Cs, with much better marks than the PSC voters and, especially, the CUP and En Comú Podem, with very low ratings – only 30%. of common voters see his legacy as good or very good.
In the case of Maragall, it is surprising that the voters who give him the best marks are not those of the PSC, the party with which he governed, but those of the ERC, a party to which his brother, today a candidate for mayor of Barcelona, went. 81% of Republicans consider Pasqual Maragall's legacy as good or very good and only a tiny 4% dismiss it as bad. The numbers among socialists are also high, but they remain below: 74% say it is good or very good and 9% criticize it.
But they are not the only ones, the voters of Junts (68%) and En Comú Podem (62%) also value the legacy of the leader of the first left-wing tripartite in Catalonia as good or very good. In fact, the one who was mayor of Barcelona during the Olympic Games, also obtains a positive evaluation among the voters of the PP (57%), Cs (56%) and the CUP (49%, plus a neutral 13%). Only Vox voters suspend him with the worst grade, something that also happens with Pujol.
