After the Social Democrat leader Vilija Blinkevičiūtė did not declare a clear answer on the possibility of taking the post of Prime Minister for a long time, people's trust in the politician dropped by eight percentage points. This is according to a public opinion poll carried out in August by Baltic Research for Elta.
According to the survey, which took place from 7 to 19 August, 49% of the Lithuanian population who took part in the poll had a favourable opinion of the Chairwoman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), which is currently leading in the rankings, Blinkevičiūtė in August.
The latest poll shows that the number of respondents who have a favourable opinion of Saulius Skvernelis, the Chairman of the Democratic Union In the Name of Lithuania( Vardan Lietuvos), has also dropped by nine percentage points (41% favourably and 50% unfavourably).
The ratings of Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, the Speaker of the Seimas (34% favourable and 54% unfavourable) and Ramūnas Karbauskis, the Chairman of the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union (LVŽS) (35% favourable and 51% unfavourable) also dropped five percentage points.
In addition, the number of those who have a favourable opinion of MEP Virginijus Sinkevičius (46% favourable and 31% unfavourable) has decreased by four percentage points. In contrast, the number of those who have a favourable opinion of the Chair of the Freedom Party, Aušrinė Armonaitė and, Lithuanian Reform Movement Vytautas Landsbergis, has decreased by three percentage points.
At the same time, the share of respondents who have a favourable opinion of Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis (37% favourable and 49% unfavourable) has increased by four percentage points in the last two months, and the share of respondents who have a favourable opinion of Ignas Vėgėlė (39% favourable and 47% unfavourable) and Eduardas Vaitkus (19% favourable and 59% unfavourable) has increased by three percentage points.
Leaders of the ruling coalition are among the most unfavourably viewed politicians
Two ruling coalition leaders are among the most unfavourably evaluated politicians in the last month of summer. Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Chairman of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) (77% unfavourably and 16% favourably), and the leader of the Freedom Party Aušrinė Armonaitė (70% unfavourably and 18% favourably).
The survey also showed that the most unfavourable opinions of the Lithuanian population in August were those of Vytautas Landsbergis, the Chairman of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas of Lithuania (74% unfavourably, 17% favourably), Prime Minister Šimonytė (69% unfavourably, 24% favourably), and the MEP Petras Gražulis (61% unfavourably, 29% favourably).
Meanwhile, the most favourably rated public figures continued to be the outgoing President Valdas Adamkus (78% favourably, 14% unfavourably) and the re-elected Head of State Nausėda (75% favourably, 18% unfavourably).
More than half of the respondents also had a favourable opinion of former President Dalia Grybauskaitė (58% favourable, 35% unfavourable), the Chairman of the Nemuno Aušra party Remigijus Žemaitaitis (54% favourable, 32% unfavourable) and Blinkevičiūtė (49% favourable, 40% unfavourable).
Andrius Tapinas, the initiator of the Skaidrinam( Let’s be Transparent) campaign, Sinkevičius, Member of the European Parliament, and Živilė Pinskuvienė, Mayor of Širvintai District, are among the most favourably evaluated public figures.
Other politicians and public figures evaluated in this survey were rated more unfavourably than favourably by the population.
The survey took place from 7 to 19 August 2024. It was carried out through personal interviews with 1018 Lithuanian citizens (aged 18 years and older) at 109 sampling points.
The composition of the respondents corresponds to the composition of the adult population of Lithuania in terms of gender, age, nationality and type of settlement. The people surveyed reflect the opinion of the Lithuanian population aged 18 and over. The margin of error of the survey results is up to 3.1%.
