MADRID, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Corruption continues to be a major concern for Spaniards in the wake of recent scandals, but unemployment is still the biggest fear, according to a report published on Tuesday.
The monthly barometer published by the Center for Sociological Investigation confirmed the pessimism many Spaniards feel about the current state of their nation, four months after Mariano Rajoy returned to power at the head of a minority government.
In recent weeks, the conclusion of the high-profile Casa Madrid and Bankia "black" credit card corruption trials led to a six-year jail term sentenced to Inaki Urdangarin, the brother-in-law of King Felipe VI of Spain, and four-and-a-half year prison sentence for former Deputy Prime Minister and International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Rodrigo Rato.
In addition to this, the president of the Murcia region has recently been indicted on corruption charges, while the long-running Gurtel cash-for-favors trial continues.
All of these have led to a rise in fears about corruption by 3.5 percentage points over the past month, with 37.5 percent of those asked saying it was a major preoccupation for them.
However, unemployment continues to be a main issue. Despite a drop of 1.1 percent, there are still 72.2 percent of respondents replying it was a worry.
Finally, the arrival of a stable minority government has done little to improve opinions over the current political climate, with 32.4 percent thinking the political situation is actually worse than a year ago, when Spain had only an acting government unable to legislate, and 23.6 percent expecting the situation to worsen.
