Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The first barometer for 2021 gauged the opinions of 800 local people, interviewed between 2 and 10 June, addressing political aspects and current affairs, particularly in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The City Council also scored better than the Government of Catalonia (with 35.3% favourable and 44.4% critical), and the Spanish government (with 25.9% favourable and 56.5% critical).

Regarding people’s perception of the city, some 59.3% of those interviewed believe that it has become worse, while 24.6% think it has improved. It is worth noting that negative opinions on this point are lower and positive opinions higher than in the previous barometer, and that in terms of perceptions about the future, people are more optimistic, with 63.7% of citizens in Barcelona feeling that the city will improve.

Among concerns for citizens, insecurity remains the main issue, with 14% of answers, although this is a long way off the 30% recorded in 2019. The second biggest concern is municipal political management, with 8.4%, followed by unemployment, work conditions generated by the Covid-19 crisis and access to housing, with 8.1%.

Ernest Maragall and Ada Colau as the best-rated municipal leaders

Ernest Maragall continues to get the best ratings as a municipal leader, with a score of 5.5, followed by the Mayor, Ada Colau, with 4.7, an improvement of 0.4 compared to the last barometer. Jaume Collboni and Elsa Artadi also tie with 4.7, while Josep Bou obtains 3.2, Mari Luz Guiarte 2.8 and Manuel Valls 2.5.

Similarly, if elections were held today, they would be won by ERC, with a direct voting intention of 13.8%, closely followed by Barcelona en Comú, with 12.3%. The PSC would get the third largest share of the vote, with 9.6%. The other positions would be occupied by JxCat (7.2%), the CUP, who would be back on the City Council with 4.2%, the PP (2.5%), Cs (1.1%) and Vox (1.1%).

Impact of the pandemic

The first barometer for 2021 also reflects the impact the pandemic has had on health, use of time, recreational habits and new aspects which have emerged in daily life, such as teleworking. A large majority of those interviewed, some 65.9%, are in favour of this system being implemented by companies and administrations, while 27.1% are against it.

Another aspect resulting from the pandemic is gender inequality. Some 36.4% of citizens feel that inequality between men and women has become worse. In addition, 37.1% of women interviewed state they have had to spend more time doing housework.

The current situation has also seen an increase in the percentage of people affirming it has affected their health, with a figure of 47.9% compared to 44.4% a year ago. In another sphere, there has also been a rise in the number of people wishing to engage in local cultural activities such as going to the theatre, visiting museums or going to concerts. In contrast, the desire to travel abroad or return to the gym has diminished.