The barometer shows that over 83% of those surveyed are worried or very worried about the war in Ukraine, with the elderly more concerned than young people. Nearly 80% believe the conflict will have a negative impact (43.4%) or very negative impact (36.3%) on the city’s economy.

People in Barcelona rate the shelter provided for Ukrainian refugees as excellent, and three quarters of those surveyed support it. Only 7.4% were against it, while 11.2% stated they were unable to make an evaluation.

Another focus of concern is inflation. In this respect, the first barometer of the year shows the impact that rising prices are having on people’s everyday habits. Over 64% of people affirm they have changed their use of household appliances to save money. Between 45 and 51% have cut their use of heating or intend to, along with visits to bars and restaurants, leisure outings, the use of air-conditioning, food purchases and free time outings outside of the city.

In terms of the perception of the city, although a majority believe the city is in a worse situation as a result of the pandemic, some 54.2% believe this will improve in the future.

The problems which worry people in Barcelona the most are security (22%), cleaning (11.5%), municipal political management (7.7%), access to housing (7.3%) and tourism (6.1%).

With the summer holidays almost here, 31% of those surveyed affirm that they will be staying in the city this year, with 26.5% intending to go somewhere in Catalonia and 25.5% somewhere in Spain. This compares with 17.3% who have plans to travel abroad.

Last barometer with questions relating to politics before the elections in 2023

In terms of ratings for municipal leaders, Ernest Maragall heads the list and is followed by Neus Munté, with ratings of 5.2 and 5 respectively. Jaume Collboni scores 4.7 and Ada Colau occupies the fourth spot with a rating of 4.1. The lowest score goes to Josep Bou, with a rating of 3.

According to answers about current voting intentions, Barcelona en Comú increases its direct voting percentage to 11.9%, one per cent more than the ERC (10.9%), while the PSC stands at 7.5% and Junts 3.4%. The rest of the parties would not gain seats on the City Council: the CUP (2.9%), the PP (1.7%), VOX (1.1%), Cs (0.8%) and PdeCat (0.2%).

The number of undecided voters stands out, with 35.8% declaring they would go to vote but at the moment they are not sure who they would vote for. The figure is much higher than the figure of 21.4% from last year.

The six-monthly survey is part of the Sociological Studies Plan (PES) 2020-2023.

See all the data from the Barcelona Barometer for June 2022.