This had to accept another drop in the APA / OGM trust index and is only slightly ahead of Norbert Hofer, who promptly gained trust after leaving as FPÖ boss. The most popular member of the government is now Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) just ahead of Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP).
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen is at the top of the trust in Austria’s federal politicians. With a balance of 43 points (from “I trust / I have no trust”), he recorded a plus of four points. Immediately behind him is Zadic, who was able to gain one point to a balance of 21. Third place went to Kocher, who lost two points and therefore ended up in third place with a balance of 20.
The values of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) have stabilized: After heavy losses in the last surveys, he comes with a minus of one point to a balance of eight – that is ex aequo fourth place with Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP), the two Was able to gain points.
800 representative selected voters from the OGM online panel were interviewed at the beginning of the current week. The fluctuation range is plus / minus 3.5 percent
Hofer made strong gains
Newcomer Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) – his predecessor Rudolf Anschober was still in office at the last trust index – had a balance of six and is on par with his Green government colleagues Werner Kogler (plus four) and Leonore Gewessler (minus two). Hofer can look forward to a positive change – as soon as he left office as FPÖ boss, he gained ten points due to the encouragement of FPÖ critics. However, at minus 34, his balance is still clearly in negative territory.
He now almost gets company there from Blümel: he now only has a balance of minus 31 (minus 15 points) and is the least popular member of the government. Behind him are only Hofer, National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) with a balance of minus 36 (minus four points) and the new FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl with minus 52 (minus one). For comparison: The leaders of the other two opposition parties create a balance around zero: NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger comes to plus two (minus three compared to the last survey), SPÖ boss Pamela Rendi-Wagner to a balance of minus one (minus one compared to last survey).
“Flowers as a bullet trap for criticism”
“Gernot Blümel gets the most fat after the repeated summons to the U-Committee and recently very slow-blown calls by the Federal President to hand over the files completely and acts, so to speak, as a bullet trap for the criticism of the voters”, stated OGM boss Wolfgang Bachmayer. By and large, there have been no other major changes. In addition to Blümel, the trust values among ÖVP politicians and Green Club chairwoman Sigrid Maurer (balance of minus 22 / minus four compared to the last evaluation) would have decreased somewhat.
Overall, the confidence image is beginning to normalize again after the upheavals of the last few months, said Bachmayer. “The findings of the U-Committee cause far less excitement (apart from that, the view through the politicians’ keyhole is always interesting), the vaccination dispute is over and people are enjoying the freedoms they have regained.”
