From September 11th to September 13th, a poll on this year's reforms was conducted of the Europeian public, garnering 26 responses. For context, there were 30 voters in the last General Election.
To begin, some basic demographic information was gathered, and the results showed that the majority of the poll's respondents were older members, with a vast majority either extremely or somewhat active in the region's government.
Getting into the actual reforms, we saw that nearly 60% of respondents approve of the new executive split, with the other 40% either favoring a return of the presidential system, or expressing some lack of support of the split.
Moving onto the newest reform, we find the City Council has overwhelming support, with a whopping 80% of respondents in favor of the replacement to the Citizens' Assembly.
Rounding out the last of the enacted reforms covered in this poll, respondents once again show incredible support, this time for the ability to vote on the number of Senate seats.
For the last section, two hypothetical reforms were proposed, to gauge what the level of public support would be. First, the direct election of the Chief of State, which has its numbers mostly line up with support of the executive split as a whole, meaning respondents who favored the split voted in favor of keeping the system as is, while those who opposed it were willing to support the change.
The final hypothetical proposed was by far the most radical, and perhaps appropriately, saw the most pushback from respondents, with roughly 85% opposing the election of Justices.
Lastly, there was a section where respondents could propose reforms of their own, so I will include those responses here:
So, what do these numbers tell us? Overall, Europeia supports all of its reforms made in the last year, though the region definitely has some doubt when it comes to the executive split system. The City Council having such strong support is an indicator that the Senate is definitely taking action based on the will of the region, by passing something with such widespread support, something that could bode well for current Senators running for reelection. However, we can also see that Europeia does not blindly support any and all reforms to their government, and that certain aspects are off-limits, which is something future reformers will do well to keep in mind.
Thank you to all who participated in this poll, and read these results, I really appreciate your support in gathering this information. Until next time, this is Calvin Coolidge, avoiding Drecq's wrath.
To begin, some basic demographic information was gathered, and the results showed that the majority of the poll's respondents were older members, with a vast majority either extremely or somewhat active in the region's government.
Getting into the actual reforms, we saw that nearly 60% of respondents approve of the new executive split, with the other 40% either favoring a return of the presidential system, or expressing some lack of support of the split.
Moving onto the newest reform, we find the City Council has overwhelming support, with a whopping 80% of respondents in favor of the replacement to the Citizens' Assembly.
Rounding out the last of the enacted reforms covered in this poll, respondents once again show incredible support, this time for the ability to vote on the number of Senate seats.
For the last section, two hypothetical reforms were proposed, to gauge what the level of public support would be. First, the direct election of the Chief of State, which has its numbers mostly line up with support of the executive split as a whole, meaning respondents who favored the split voted in favor of keeping the system as is, while those who opposed it were willing to support the change.
The final hypothetical proposed was by far the most radical, and perhaps appropriately, saw the most pushback from respondents, with roughly 85% opposing the election of Justices.
Lastly, there was a section where respondents could propose reforms of their own, so I will include those responses here:
I'd like to see a reform to this poll, so I can give more nuanced answers to some of these questions.- It’s time to return to a unified executive. The split has failed to live up to its promise, as demonstrated by a slew of uncontested elections. Ditch the split!
- I just want to say that I fully endorse the direct election of all positions in Europeia with the exception of Judicary. I want the citizens to choose their government and I think it’s unfair and undemocratic with the way it’s currently settled down, in which the Senate(far too few people) elects the Chief of State. I don’t see the pros of the Chief Of State position, for example during the last term the Chief of State barely posted two or three announcements/speeches other than that I have no clue what she did. Also, the Councilor of Foreign Affairs last term did no posts other than roll call, and I think far too many people have done very few things in their positions since the executive split happened. I think the region needs to debate if the Chief of State is really a position we need. I also believe the executive split was merely cosmetical, I see no improvement from a productive or accountability perspective. The only thing the executive split did was that new people got elected to the positions and not the same players from 5+ years. But I think that’s because the region is going through a generational change and not because of the executive split per se. I believe we need to debate how productive this changes were to our region. I have the position that from what I have seen, I see no positive aspect from the executive split and I would favor returning to the previous presidential system. There was much more accountability when the Presidency existed, people could approve or disapprove the president in polls and he or she could make changes if needed, but not a single poll was done for the Chief of State and that is making the holders of that position very, but very invisible.
So, what do these numbers tell us? Overall, Europeia supports all of its reforms made in the last year, though the region definitely has some doubt when it comes to the executive split system. The City Council having such strong support is an indicator that the Senate is definitely taking action based on the will of the region, by passing something with such widespread support, something that could bode well for current Senators running for reelection. However, we can also see that Europeia does not blindly support any and all reforms to their government, and that certain aspects are off-limits, which is something future reformers will do well to keep in mind.
Thank you to all who participated in this poll, and read these results, I really appreciate your support in gathering this information. Until next time, this is Calvin Coolidge, avoiding Drecq's wrath.