Despite statements by Ahmadinejad’s advisors that his popularity has risen since the ‎conclusion of the first round of his provincial visits, a state-run polling agency concluded ‎that 53 percent of those who voted for Ahmadinejad in the last election will not vote for ‎him under similar circumstances again. ‎

The survey was carried out by the Iranian Student Polling Agency (ISPA), which, along ‎with the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), is affiliated with Sazman-e Jahad-e ‎Daneshgah (“University Crusade Organization”). ISPA shared its findings on Tuesday ‎with a panel composed of representatives from reformist and conservative political ‎parties. The officials of the polling group express confidence that their findings will ‎accurately predict the outcome of the upcoming Majlis elections as well. ‎

A highlight of ISPA’s report was its findings on Ahmadinejad’s plummeting popularity ‎‎(to less than half it’s previous level). The survey asked participants who voted in the ‎‎2005 presidential elections whether they have retained their political views. The results ‎showed that only “47 percent of those who voted for Ahmadinejad in the previous ‎election would vote for him again in the next term’s elections, while the remaining 53 ‎percent would not. Other candidates benefited from Ahmadinejad’s plummeting ‎popularity, with Hashemi Rafsanjani absorbing 16 percent and Ghalibaf absorbing 5 ‎percent of Ahmadinejad’s votes. The remaining 24 percent indicated that they would not ‎vote for Ahmadinejad or any other candidate.” ‎

ISPA pollsters also found that 52 percent of people give the current administration an ‎‎“unsatisfactory” grade through the survey criteria. The criteria included, “preserving ‎Islamic principles, social justice, controlling inflation, protecting social freedoms, foreign ‎policy, and implementing campaign promises.” 52 percent graded the administration’s ‎performance as “unsatisfactory,” 17 percent as “satisfactory, and 31 as “neither ‎satisfactory nor unsatisfactory.” Overall, the participants gave the administration a grade ‎of 39.13 out of 100. ‎

Survey participants also rated the administration’s progress in individual categories: ‎‎“preserving Islamic principles: positive;” “social justice: negative;” “controlling inflation: ‎negative;” protecting social freedoms: negative;” “foreign policy: positive;” and ‎‎“implementing campaign promises: negative.” ‎

The participants in ISPA’s survey gave the political establishment an overall grade of ‎‎11.47 out of 20. On average, 53 of participants rated the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy ‎and popularity as “high” or “very high.” ‎

According to the ISPA survey, 9.3 percent of participants believed that the current ‎political conditions/orientation should be preserved (conservativism), while 64 percent ‎believed in reforming the system (reformism), and 26 believed in drastic or radical ‎changes (radicalism).‎