“He doesn’t look super friendly,” replied one young German woman when asked on the streets of Berlin about Donald Tusk. Only four out of the eleven people surveyed had even a rough idea who the politician in the street-poll photo was.
The editorial team of the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle also decided to “mark” the two-year anniversary of Donald Tusk’s government. In a street poll in Berlin, they asked passersby about the Polish prime minister. People were shown his photo and encouraged to talk and share their opinions.
The least informed were relatively young people, although there was no shortage of more mature respondents who had no clue who the politician in the photo was. The answers varied widely. One man asked whether he was the German chancellor, and another replied that he was an immigrant, so he didn’t know. Among older interviewees, many also failed to recognize Tusk. Some tried guessing – one man said he must be German because he has a “potato nose.”
“He’s probably from the right wing, but that’s just based on stereotypes. He doesn’t look super friendly,” assessed a young woman.
“He’s the one who has now made it so that LGBT will be banned in Poland, right? That’s where everything seems to be heading,”
asked another woman, trying to guess.
Almost got it
Among those who most accurately identified Tusk’s previous roles in Poland and the European Union, people over 60 were in the majority. A Black woman also said she likes him “because he is Catholic,” just like her. Another respondent noted that Poland’s prime minister is fairly well known in Germany because he had visited the country a week earlier. “Maybe he can achieve something in the European Union so that we become more united,” an older lady remarked. She had a rough idea of his EU-level functions, though not precise.
One man said that Tusk is “the president of Poland” and “more liberal than Kaczyński.”
Two years of the December 13 coalition government
In Poland, even Tusk’s own supporters are dissatisfied with his two years in power. According to one poll, as many as 44.1% of respondents judged that he performed below expectations. Of these, 30.9% said “definitely worse,” and 13.2% “rather worse.” Fewer than one in three (29.5%) said he governed in line with their expectations.
The study also shows that as many as one in five voters of the Civic Coalition has a negative opinion of the current government led by Tusk.
Other surveys published on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the December 13 coalition indicate that the prevailing belief in society is that this government will not last until the end of its term.