September INSCOP barometer: AUR - 39.7%; PSD - 18.7% and PNL - 16.3%

 AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians) leads voters' preferences for parliamentary elections, with a lead of approximately 20 percentage points over the next two parties in the ranking, PSD (Social Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party), according to the 14th edition of the INSCOP Research Barometer, conducted from September 1 to 7.According to the poll, 39.7% of voters would vote for AUR (compared with 38.2% in May 2026, 37% in April, 38% in March, 40.9% in January, 38% in November 2025, 40% in October, 40.8% in September, 40.5% in June and 38.1% in May), while PSD ranks second with 18.7% (compared with 17.5% in May 2026, 20.1% in April, 19.2% in March, 18.2% in January, 19.5% in November 2025, 17.6% in October, 17.9% in September, 13.7% in June and 17.4% in May).PNL ranks third in voters' preferences, with 16.3% (compared with 20.3% in May 2026, 15.5% in April, 14.5% in March, 13.5% in January, 14.6% in November 2025, 14.8% in October, 15.2% in September, 17.3% in June and 16% in May), followed by USR (Save Romania Union) with 9% (compared with 10% in May 2026, 12.7% in April, 11.4% in March, 11.7% in January, 12.3% in November 2025, 11.5% in October, 12.8% in September, 13.1% in June and 12.2% in May).Some 5.5% of voters would vote for UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania) (compared with 5% in May 2026, 4.3% in April, 4% in March, 4.9% in January, 4.8% in November 2025, 5.2% in October, 4% in September, 5.2% in June and 4.5% in May 2025), while SENS would receive 4.1% (compared with 2.5% in May 2026, 2.4% in April, 3.6% in March, 4% in January, 3.2% in November 2025, 3.4% in October, 2.1% in September and 2.4% in June).S.O.S. Romania would receive 2.7% (compared with 2.9% in May 2026, 2.8% in April, 3.3% in March, 2.8% in January, 1.7% in November 2025, 2% in October, 2.8% in September and 1.9% in June), while POT would also receive 2.7% (compared with 1.9% in May 2026, 3.6% in April, 3% in March 2026, 5% in January, 3.1% in November 2025, 2.6% in October, 3.3% in September and 4.2% in June).Another 1% of voters expressed a preference for an independent candidate (compared with 0.9% in May 2026, 1% in April, 1.4% in March, 2% in January, 1% in November 2025, 1.3% in October, 0.6% in September and 1.4% in June), while 0.3% would vote for another party (compared with 0.9% in May 2026, 0.7% in April, 1.6% in March, 1.1% in January, 1.8% in November 2025, 1.6% in October, 0.6% in September and 0.5% in June).These figures refer to respondents who expressed a preference for a party on the list, regardless of whether they said they would definitely vote, accounting for 70.6% of the total sample.The barometer also presents data for respondents who expressed a preference for a party on the list and said they would definitely turn out to vote, representing 45% of the total sample.In this case, 40.2% of those who expressed a voting preference would vote for AUR, 17.2% for PNL, 16.4% for PSD and 11.4% for USR. UDMR would receive 4.8%, SENS 4.8%, POT 2.2% and S.O.S. Romania 1.8%. An independent candidate would be chosen by 1% of respondents, while 0.2% would vote for another party.Regarding estimated turnout in the parliamentary elections, the poll shows that, on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means 'definitely will not vote' and 10 means 'definitely will vote', 17.8% of Romanians chose 'definitely will not', while 56.7% chose 'definitely will'. Another 1.8% said they did not know or declined to answer.'The excessive prolongation of the political crisis, with all its economic, social and reputational costs, tends to flatten the electoral scores of the parties that made up the former governing coalition, with none exceeding 20%. While PNL recorded a significant electoral boost immediately after the no-confidence motion, four months of caretaker government have eroded the electoral capital accumulated by the Liberals in that context, bringing them back to the percentages recorded before the no-confidence motion. PSD and USR are stabilising, with very slight gains in voters, particularly among mobilised voters, while AUR remains around the 40% mark,' said Remus Stefureac, director of INSCOP Research.The Informat.ro - INSCOP Research Barometer is a monthly opinion poll conducted by INSCOP Research at the request of the Informat.ro news platform, in partnership with the Strategic Thinking Group think tank.The data were collected from 1 to 7 September 2026 using questionnaire-based interviews. The CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) method was used, with a simple random sample of 1,100 people, representative of the significant socio-demographic categories (sex, age and occupation) of Romania's non-institutionalised population aged 18 and over. The maximum margin of error is ?3 percentage points, at a 95% confidence level.