The leading conservative coalition is still lagging behind the left in popularity with voters, the latest Promocija plus poll shows.

It appears that the current government did not benefit a lot from the recent reshuffling of its ranks, when several ministers were replaced and one new post was created.

If the elections were to take place today, 31.2 per cent of the voters would support the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SDP) (they received 32.4 per cent of popularity votes in December), while the majority right-wing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) would receive 22.6 per cent (up slightly from last month's 22.1 per cent).

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic is again the country's favourite politician, his popularity rising more than three per cent since the previous poll (45.3 per cent to 41.9) He is followed by Croatian National Bank governor, Zeljko Rohatinski (14.6 per cent to 19.3 per cent last month), SDP's head Zoran Milanovic with 5.9 per cent and the current Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor with 6.1 per cent (5.4 per cent in last poll).

The ex Prime Minister Ivo Sanader – currently in jail in the Austrian town of Salzburg after being arrested on an international warrant issued by Croatia where he is suspected of corruption – remains the country's biggest political "bad guy" or the most negative politician for 41.1 per cent of the respondents.

Some 57.7 per cent of those surveyed said that last month's most important event was ex-PM's arrest, the daily Jutarnji List writes. The poll was conducted on the first of January 2011.