He assessed the qualifications of the authorities: some are in severe quarantine, others are completely different

According to the results of the Baltic Research poll conducted by the ELTA news agency from April 22 to May 5, the favorable assessment of Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė decreased from 48 to 42 percent since November.

8 percent. The rating of the Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė has also decreased, and the Minister of Health Arūna Dulkis has a negative assessment of 56 percent. surveyed. You can read more about the results of this survey here.

The Šimonytificaciones classifications include reflections of society’s pandemic fatigue

Commenting on I. Šimonytė’s ratings, Mindaugas Jurkynas, a Jean Monnet professor and political scientist at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), noted that her positive evaluation was never very high.

“The rankings of the prime minister have never been high compared to presidents, former presidents or the president of the Seimas. This, I believe, was also reflected in the results of the presidential election in the second round,” said M. Jurkynas.

According to him, all the reasons for the decline in ratings are difficult to predict, but several hypotheses can be made.

“First, that honeymoon always ends, because at the beginning there is a certain credit of confidence to the new government: new hopes, changes, perhaps a new form of solutions. The second is that a pandemic is not the most fun aspect for the government, because it is necessary to address public health problems, “said the professor.

He noted that government ratings are also negatively affected by general public fatigue, economic challenges, and voices of dissatisfaction with business support and fighting the pandemic in general.

“One hundred days later, there was natural criticism from the opposition, often based on late, contradictory and unclear decisions, the opening of schools, the formation of priority groups for vaccination, the pace of vaccine use and relationships. with the municipalities. Those criticisms also appeared naturally, which could have damaged the rating, which was not high anyway, “said M. Jurkynas.

For his part, Ryk Urbonaitė, a political scientist at Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), compared the change in qualifications by position. The results of the November survey are as follows:

“According to the posts, these are those hot positions where you will never really shine. (…) What I see is if Dustys now has 56 percent in the last poll. negative rating, that’s when we look at Veryga’s rating for November, we see 64 percent. negative reviews. The situation in Veryga in November was worse than it is now, ”said the expert.

R. Urbonaitė also pointed out that the differences between the ratings and the previous government were not significant, comparing the negative evaluations of former prime minister S. Skvernelis and current head of government I. Šimonytė.

“Skvernelis had 49 percent. Negative rating, which is quite a lot, Šimonytė has 52 percent. There are really not that big differences,” said the MRU political scientist.

“It was practically impossible for this Government to maintain good grades or have better grades than in November because Quvernelis or Veryga had a very long quarantine and the resulting consequences,” emphasized R. Urbonaitė.

8 percent. associates the favorable evaluation fall of Armonaitė not only with the work of the Minister

One of the most significant falls in the table of favorable evaluations is that of the Minister of Economy and Innovation A. Armonaitė.

According to M. Jurkynas, the Minister has always had a business-friendly approach, but as soon as he started working in the Government, he had to abandon some of his ideas, as health problems prevented their implementation.

“The second thing: A. Armonaitė, as president of the Freedom Party, is associated with new initiatives that were in the Seimas: the Association Law, and the prevention, monitoring and discussion of the Istanbul Convention. In my opinion, this may have contributed to a change in the opinion of a certain number of more socially conservative people and a decrease in grades ”, commented the VMU professor.

R. Urbonaitė argued similarly about downgrading A. Armonaitė.

“Now it is not just an ‘absorber’ of economic issues, of problems.” Although she herself speaks much less frequently about the issues that are quite important to the Freedom Party, in one way or another she is mainly associated with what is now on our political agenda: human rights issues, the Istanbul Convention, the Association Law. We can perfectly see what is happening in society as a result, insofar as there is resistance, aggression. These problems have become more acute than ever, ”said the MRU political scientist.

The dust was viewed negatively and Veryga’s favor skyrocketed.

The Minister of Health A. Dulkis is also negatively evaluated by the public. According to the results of the May poll, 56% are unfavorable. surveyed. Meanwhile, former minister Aurelius Veryga’s favorable assessment jumped 14% from November to May. – 30 to 44 percent.

According to R. Urbonaitė, such a negative rating from the Minister is not drastic.

“Veryga had more unfavorable evaluations. Now, I think Veryga “came out on a white horse” in the latest rankings only because it is associated with a much less painful quarantine, with periods when we had completely forgotten about masks and is associated with lower mortality rates. “, compared the political scientist.

“It is much easier to have better audience ratings in opposition than in power, and if the circumstances are still difficult, the chances of obtaining good audience ratings are further reduced. These are normal processes,” continued R. Urbonaitė.

For his part, M. Jurkynas also pointed out that the period in which the head of the country approved the Cabinet of Ministers did not help the reputation of A. Dulkis from the beginning.

“In my opinion, it was with respect to Dulkis, who with a 150-point plan that nobody saw, that negative context and the turmoil had already started from the beginning,” said the VMU professor.

He also said that Veryga, who currently works in the opposition, had also started capitalizing on his capital as a politician.

The former minister also brought his minister’s luggage, which he now turns into the luggage of a politician. You have the knowledge, the context, the experience, you know how to present alternative opinions. They may not like it, (…) but A. Veryga has always had a strong opinion, they have never been afraid of him and his strong attitude and criticism from the opposition are always appreciated, because the opposition does not make any decisions ”. M. Jurkynas emphasized.

The most support for Squirrel, if not for the position of leader of the opposition, could be different

The favorable evaluation of S. Skvernelis, who became the leader of the opposition, also increased: in November it reached 44% and in May – 51%.

“S. Skvernell, as the leader of the opposition, expresses his critical opinion quite regularly, although the first hundred days were correctly followed and no criticism was launched. (…) After that, the Government undertook criticism and proposals for the solution of alternative problems ”, explained M. Jurkynas the favorable assessment of the former prime minister.

However, according to the professor, such results would not exist if S. Skvernel was not the leader of the opposition at this time.

“I think the sufficiently active and intrusive role of S. Skvernel as leader of the opposition increases his chances. If he were not the leader of the opposition, he would think that the audience ratings would not be as they are now,” said M. Jurkynas.

R. Urbonaitė said similarly about the increased support for opposition politicians.

“The opposition is now trying to attribute to itself, perhaps not so unreasonably, the good things that happened in the previous legislature. However, we lived in a completely different environment, we did not have the problems that we have now, ”said the political scientist.

Precipitation index: the fall is small, but it does not offer “falling asleep on your laurels”

6 percent. the favorable evaluation of the head of the country, Gitanas Nausėda, also fell in five months. As Jurkynas said, the president’s ratings remain high.

“It just came to our attention then. Those who criticize the president sometimes criticize for certain inactivity, sometimes for too much activity, for interfering in the activities of the Government, and that criticism has a price. Naturally, this is reflected in the ratings, but they are high enough, confidence is high and there is not a very drastic drop here, ”said the VMU professor.

For his part, R. Urbonaitė also seconded his colleague, but pointed out that “he should not rest on his laurels.”

“Six percent is really not much when you are over 70. (…) On the other hand, we are very aware that we have presidents in the top three. It is obvious that the Lithuanian population and those who participate in the polls tend to favor presidents in general. Therefore, you should not rest on your laurels, because other polls show much sharper falls, “commented the MRU political scientist.

“As the president goes further, the more he is oriented towards certain groups in society, he can hurt him in terms of rating,” added R. Urbonaitė.