site.bta63% of Survey Respondents Believe Failure to Adopt New 2026 State Budget Will Affect Bulgarians’ Standard of Living

Failure to adopt the 2026 State budget will affect Bulgarians’ standard of living, according to 63.8% of respondents in a survey conducted by the Myara polling agency. The opposite view is held by 31.8% of those surveyed, while a small “grey” zone of 4.4% are undecided. 

The data come from an independent survey by the Myara agency. The poll represents the views of the country’s adult population and was conducted between December 15 and 17 among 802 adult Bulgarians. Such surveys are mainly used for rapid observations, to check the general structure of opinions, and to formulate hypotheses for subsequent studies. 

According to 53.9% of respondents, all political parties are to blame for the budget impasse; 33.5% believe responsibility lies with the current government, while 8.2% say the opposition is responsible for the failure to adopt the budget. 

The data come against the backdrop of lower willingness among Bulgarians to spend during the holidays, analysts note. As the Christmas and New Year holidays approach, a period typically associated with increased spending-43% of respondents say there has been no change in their purchasing power compared to the previous year, while 42.2% report that their ability to buy goods and gifts has decreased. Just over one-tenth assess their financial situation around the holidays as better than last year, while the rest are undecided.

Around ten percent of Bulgarians say that this year they can afford to buy more goods and gifts for Christmas and New Year compared to last year. The rest are evenly split between “I can afford about the same as last year” and “I can afford less,” Myara notes.

The youngest respondents and those of working age are the ones who most often say they have maintained their purchasing power, while among older people it has decreased to the greatest extent. According to Bulgarians’ own assessments this year, people can afford roughly the same as last year or less, the analysts conclude.

According to the survey, the idea that electoral legislation should be changed before new elections is almost automatically accepted: 74% share this view, while 22.6% disagree. According to 42.4% of respondents, voting should be conducted only with machines; 35.2% support voting with both machines and paper ballots; and 16.8% prefer paper ballots only. When asked to choose one option if required, 59.4% opt for machine voting, while 28.7% choose paper ballots.