A recent poll conducted by UK market research firm Ipsos MORI asked 8,833 adults aged 16-64 their opinion of thirteen European politicians presently serving as the prime ministers of their respective countries except for French President Francois Hollande. Respondents were not asked about the leaders of their own country.
Respondents were asked to state their opinions as positive, slightly positive, slightly negative, more negative, or strongly negative.
The poll indicates that of the thirteen European politicians Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is the best known and most popular. Here’s how the poll ranked the rest of the European leaders (in descending order): David Cameron (UK), Fredrik Reinfeldt (Sweden), François Hollande (France), Mark Rutte (The Netherlands), Elio Di Rupo (Belgium), Matteo Renzi (Italy), Enda Kenny (Ireland), Mariano Rajoy (Spain), Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech), Donald Tusk (Poland), Orban Viktor (Hungary) and Zoran Milanovic (Croatia).
Less known and less popular among European politicians are the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Croatia.
86% of Europeans living outside of Germany said they knew who Angela Merkel was, making her Europe’s best known politician. Of those, 59 percent had a positive opinion and 23% had a negative opinion.
By contrast, only one-third of Europeans living outside of Hungary said they knew who Viktor Orban was, of which 23% had a positive opinion and 32% had a negative opinion of him.
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