And the results are in! Here’s the breakdown of the approval poll results:
If the last approval poll told the story of a term that exceeded the sum of its parts, these poll results seem to suggest a term where there’s definitely one key part stealing the show: the Prime Minister.
ProfessorHenn’s personal approval rating comes in at a very solid 4.36, 0.31 points above their rating at the end of the previous term. Not a single respondent gave Henn less than a 4, propelling them to the highest approval rating of any member of the administration in this poll. Of course, only time will tell if they’ll maintain this level of approval for the remainder of this term as well. With reelection off the table, will they seek to invest more of their political capital in bringing their policies to fruition? Or is the fact that Henn won’t be running for reelection perhaps a factor in their high approval rating in the first place?
But wait! While Henn’s approval rating has risen, the administration’s overall approval rating hasn’t. In fact, it’s down 0.39 points from the approval rating earned by the previous administration at the end of their term. And yet, members of this administration, on average, actually have higher personal approval ratings than members of the last administration. So what gives?
One explanation is that it’s simply a return to the norm. In our last approval polls, the administration’s overall approval rating was higher than the personal approval rating earned by any of its members. Perhaps citizens are simply adopting a more grounded approach to evaluating the administration as a whole. At the same time, if we look at the administration members and the ministries making a return from the previous term, there are some interesting changes.
We’ve already talked about Henn’s ratings here, but they weren’t the only returning member of the administration. Em’s ratings as OWL director are essentially unchanged, but the same cannot be said for Legend. Their approval rating of 3.42 as Minister of Culture is 0.63 points below their approval rating as Minister of On-Site Events last term, driven by more polarized opinions on their performance as a minister. At the end of the last term, Legend didn’t receive any ratings below a 3 while over a third of respondents gave them a 5. In this poll, they still earned a 5 from a third of respondents, but a quarter of respondents gave them just a 1. It’s possible that while their core political base has held steady, the views of other citizens have begun to sour.
Among returning ministries, we likewise have a mixed bag. Approval ratings for the Minister of Defense position remain high, with Drew Durrnil earning a rating of 4.23, edging out Kotoha Tanaka’s rating last term. Meanwhile, Concrete Slab’s leadership in foreign affairs has earned them an approval rating of 3.93, which is 0.25 points above HumanSanity’s exit score. Conversely, though to a lesser extent, USoVietnam comes in with an approval rating of 3.79, a tenth of a point below Pronoun’s rating at the end of the last term.
All of that said, we’re still a month away from the next round of elections and only halfway through the term. There’s still time for plenty to change. Will the high flyers keep soaring? Will an underdog make a sudden comeback? I guess we’ll find out in the coming month or two, one way or another!