Nearly half of Greeks would back Syriza in new election - poll

ATHENS (Reuters) - Nearly half of Greeks would back the governing leftist party of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras if elections were held this week, a Metron Analysis poll to be published on Saturday showed. Altogether, 47.6 percent of respondents said they would back Syriza, up sharply from the 36.3 percent that the radical party won in elections barely a month ago, based on those who said they would be sure to vote. Support for the centre-right New Democracy party, which pushed through unpopular reforms as part of Greece's 240 billion euro bailout programme, fell to 20.7 percent from the 27.8 percent who supported the party on Jan. 25. The poll, conducted after Greece gained a four-month extension to the country's aid programme, appears to show the government holding the support of a large chunk of Greeks despite being accused of having performed a climbdown on its pledge to end the unpopular bailout. More than two in three Greeks said they were satisfied with the way the government was negotiating with EU partners while 76 percent were positive about its overall performance so far, according to the survey for Parapolitika newspaper. (Reporting By Costas Pitas; editing by David Stamp)