Greek Retreat Helps Rajoy Extend Poll Lead Before Spain Election

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s party extended its poll lead going into this year’s general election, shrugging off an anti-austerity challenge as the threat of political and economic contagion from Greece fades.

Support for Rajoy’s People’s Party was 28.2 percent in a quarterly survey by state pollster CIS published Wednesday, up almost 3 percentage points from the last poll for April and ahead of the Socialists, on 24.9 percent. Backing for Podemos, which rallied to the side of Syriza during Greece’s standoff with creditors, slipped to 15.7 percent, down almost a point from the April survey and more than 8 points below the party’s peak in January.