Athens.- AMNA

A large majority of Greeks want Athens to reach a compromise deal with its foreign lenders to avoid being forced out of the euro area, according to a new survey.

The poll, which was carried out by Kapa Research for Sunday’s To Vima newspaper, found that 71.9 percent want an agreement with Greece’s creditors, against 23.2 percent who said the government should refuse any compromise.

According to 72.9 percent, Greece must stay in the eurozone, while 20.3 percent said the country would be better off with the drachma.

Almost 80 percent said they want Greece to remain a member of the EU while 73.7 percent backed membership of NATO.

A strong majority, 68.8 percent, are wary of a Greek euro exit while 24.1 percent said the risk has been avoided.

At 36.9 percent, SYRIZA was found to hold a comfortable lead over conservative opposition New Democracy, on 21.7 percent.

According to an opinion poll conducted by ALCO for the Sunday newspaper Proto Thema, SYRIZA leads by 14.1 percentage points over main opposition New Democracy (ND).

According to the poll results SYRIZA is preferred by 35.9 percent of those asked followed by ND with 21.8 pct, to Potami with 5.1 pct, the Communist Party (KKE) with 5.1 pct, Golden Dawn with 5 pct, Independent Greeks with 3.6 pct and PASOK with 3.3 pct. The undecided voted reached 16 pct.

27 percent of the respondents said they want a referendum if the negotiations fail, 51 percent that the government must handle the issue and 15 percent want elections.