Jolanta Kwaśniewska exits presidential race as polarization saps her support

While the latest opinion poll conducted by the Social Opinion Research Center still ranks her top of the presidential listings, her popularity has fallen from 59% in October to 32% at present. Tomasz Żukowski, a sociologist, explained the phenomenon as being symptomatic of the increased polarization of the domestic political scene, and suggested that with the ongoing widening of political divisions in this country Mrs Kwaśniewska's popularity would only continue to fall. (Rzeczpospolita p.A3) M.G.