June Internal Affairs Satisfaction Poll Results and Analyses





June 2019 Internal Affairs Satisfaction Poll Results and Analyses
A Split Result

Written by Astrellan




With the First Minister Election just having been opened, the EBC has collected the results of the executive end-term satisfaction poll. This reccurring poll attempts to gauge the electorate's satisfaction with the first minister and their government. Respondents were asked their satisfaction rating of the executive, the first minister and his deputy, the ministers and the ministries, along with how likely they would want to see an official re-elected/re-nominated. 24 Citizens took this poll and, though lower than the usual 30+ respondents for EBC polls, this significant part of the electorate has given mixed results for First Minister Lloenfly's government. Here are the results and analyses:

The Upper Executive

With an overall satisfaction rating of 62.5 percent, the executive has once again scored a majority positive rating from respondents. This time, there was a much lower dissatisfaction rate than previous polls (a drop from 26.7 percent last term) and a lot higher neutral percentage, now comprising an entire third of respondents. However, this result does carry on the negative trend of executive approval we have seen since the Executive Split. The last poll before the split (in January) reported satisfaction at 72.2 percent - a number which has yet to be beaten. So, while procuring more positive results than the last term, the current executive has not yet risen to the satisfaction seen before the split.

With a satisfaction rating of 66.7 percent and 75 percent of respondents wanting to see him get re-elected to some extent, First Minister Lloenflys has enjoyed a positive response from respondents. In his election platform, he set out some guidelines for his next term - specifically including high visibility and participation from himself throughout the ministries. While the electorate hasn't seen a lot of participation from the first minister, he has definitely lived up to visibility, being consistently active on Discord and even creating his own article series on the EBC to provide his thoughts and feelings on various topics. It is possible that - despite admitting being limited in activity - Lloenfly's presence contributed largely to his satisfaction rating, as it was a change from the previous administration's little-visibility issue.

Deputy Minister Sopo has a much different rating than his superior. His majority response was the "neutral" option with a huge 37.5 percent of respondents choosing it. He also receives a 37.5 percent satisfaction rating, failing to secure a majority. Almost in contrast to his superior's huge visibility throughout the term, there has been little seen from the deputy first minister. In compliance with the Deputy Devolution Amendment passed last term in the Senate, he also became the minister of employment (expanded upon below) but that ministry is known for low-visibility and certainly hasn't helped the deputy first minister project his achievements this terms to the electorate. This factor most likely led to the large "neutral" rating as many respondents simply were unaware of what he could have done, and so were "unsure." This is reflected in his re-election likelihood, as the majority of respondents chose a neutral "3" with the rest fanning out to a slightly agree "4" and a slightly disagree "2," leaving little strong opinions about the deputy.

The Ministers

Achieving a whopping 91.7 percent satisfaction rating, Minister of Communications Hezekon starts out his first term incredibly successfully, receiving the most positive result out of all ministers on this poll. Additionally, 87.5 percent of respondents would also recommend Hezekon to be re-nominated, tying with Minister of Interior Whitmark for the highest re-nomination rating. After becoming prominent in the ministry in the last term for his consistent production of articles despite the lack of leadership, Hezekon was quickly nominated for minister, his first ever Cabinet position. He has carried on the workflow from the past term, revitalising the ministry and probably earning that high satisfaction rating we see from respondents.

Garnering the most negative response in this entire poll, former Minister of Culture shufordbrian got a whopping 70.9 percent dissatisfaction rate with 41.7 percent of respondents choosing the "Very Dissatisfied" option. From this term, there has been little sign of the former Minister. With previous experience in leading the Ministry of Culture, and the previous minister Lloenflys vacating the position on winning his election, shufordbrian was a natural choice to take his space. However, under his leadership there appeared to be little to no activity from the ministry. Moreover, he resigned early into the term, with the first minister citing "real life conflicts" for his absence. This pointed lack of activity from the minister most likely contributed to such a negative response.

Minister of Employment Sopo's satisfaction rating is incredibly varied, with the biggest response being "Neutral / Unsure" from a third of all respondents. Apart from that, he obtained a 41.7 percent dissatisfaction rating and a minority satisfaction rating of 25 percent. This spread of results is quite similar to last term's results, and is most likely attributed to the role of the minister of employment. The ministry is mostly inward-facing, with only Employment Central being a particularly visible part to the electorate. As such, it is difficult to gauge what accomplishments Sopo has achieved this term and the lack of visibility from the ministry most definitely contributed to this overall negative spread of satisfaction. Moreover, his renomination results are even more negative than his satisfaction results, with half of the respondents not encouraging him to be renominated and a further 29.2 percent giving a neutral answer, possibly indicating that the electorate wishes for a more visible minister of employment.

Enjoying a proud satisfaction rate of 75 percent, Minister of Justice Darcness has celebrated a successful term for the ministry. Coming into the Cabinet and the role of Attorney General for his first time in a while, Darcness has achieved a stable standing for the ministry. The Law Clerk programme has been revitalised with more newcomers and even announcing Senior Law clerks Senator and Justice Rand, Justice Prim and former Attorney General and former Minister of Justice Drecq to assist him. Interestingly, the minister has occasionally produced legislative assessments on the border of being late this term, but this does not appear to affect his satisfaction rating or his renomination rating, which stands at a solid 70.9 percent of respondents who would encourage him to be renominated for that position.

Second only to Hezekon in satisfaction rating, Minister of Interior Whitmark scores an outstanding 87.5 percent satisfaction rating with no dissatisfaction recorded from respondents. Known for his amazing effort the last term as senior deputy minister of recruitment, Whitmark has continued this trend of recruiting into this term. Europeia's population has reversed the negative trend it had been seeing, even peeking at over 1000 members under his leadership. It is clear that these stellar numbers have contributed to Whitmark's rating and his renomination score, which has also had 87.5 percent of respondents encouraging him for renomination to the position.

Despite resigning in his term similar to the former Minister of Culture shufordbrian, it is clear that former Minister of Radio led an immensely more popular term, with a huge satisfaction rating of 79.1 percent. Picthonia has been the incumbent Minister of Radio for almost three terms now, with his leadership causing immense productivity from the ministry with multiple radio shows and constant broadcasts from the EBC Radio department. His popularity has been constant during the past few terms and this has not changed. The former minister resigned just under two weeks ago, citing a huge summer Leave of Absence for the cause. This situation could have shown in his renomination rating, as a third of all respondents listed a neutral response and 61.5 percent encouraging him to be renominated regardless.

The Ministries

The Ministry of Communications scores the second highest out of all the ministries this term, with a huge satisfaction rating of 86.5 percent and an overwhelmingly large 54.2 percent "very satisfied" response. This most definitely is in light of the bad state the ministry was towards the end of last term, with former Minister Vinage Vinage resigning and his replacement getting denied confirmation by the Senate. This led the ministry having no minister for a substantial period, devolving the initiation upon two Junior Ministers to keep up the flow of articles from the EBC. They were now-Minister of Communications Hezekon and Senator and Senior Deputy Director of the EBC Astrellan, who both received Sapphire Stars for their effort. This effort continued into this term by putting out a large number of articles and making EBC polls and analyses more common. This change from a stagnant ministry to a productive one most likely led to such a positive result for the ministry.

Following a similar result from its former Minister shufordbrian, the Ministry of Culture had a majority dissatisfaction rating of 58.4 percent with a further quarter of all respondents recording their opinion as "Neutral / Unsure." There has been little production from the ministry this term under the former minister, with only weekly roleplays being produced and even those specifically by Deputy Minister of Roleplay Hezekon. Under First Minister Lloenflys, who served as interim minister for the rest of the term, we see the idea of Weekend Games being brought up and a Europeian Chess Tournament being hosted. In spite of this, it appears the electorate is still unhappy with the Ministry of Culture this term.

Carrying on the trend of similarity between minister and ministry, the Ministry of Employment failed to secure a majority satisfaction rate. With half of all participants rating dissatisfaction for the ministry, and a further quarter lodging neutrality, it is surprising to see that this ministry is the only one to not gather any "Very Satisfied responses", despite having a more positive result than, e.g, the Ministry of Culture. Linking to the same reasons for the dissatisfaction rating for its minister, the Ministry of Employment serves mainly to revise ministry hierarchies (an inward-facing role) and support members finding employment within the executive (its only outward-facing role). Moreover, there has been a notable lack of visibility from this ministry as a whole this term and many citizens are simply unaware of any production that may be happening out of sight. Finally, the ministry was hailed to be a temporary ministry and perhaps its persistence to another term combined with the lack of knowledge about the workings of the ministry could have contributed to such a negative result from the electorate.

The Ministry of Justice has carried on its steady approval rating into this term. With a satisfaction rating of 62.5 percent, the ministry has received a favourable response from the public. Compiling legislative assessments for the first minister (and the chief of state quite a few times, due to constitutional amendments being passed by the Senate), along with the revitalisation of the Law Clerk programme and the senior law clerks, the ministry has been very productive this term. Additionally, ideas like policy assessments and judicial training have been proposed as projects for the ministry coming into the future. It is clear that a streak of productivity, and so popularity, has been created by the ministry.

Another incredibly positive response for the Ministry of Interior this term, with a satisfaction rating of 87.5 percent and no dissatisfaction recorded. Similarly explained in Minister of Interior Whitmark's results, the ministry's recruitment effort has seen a continuation from last term's trend. The position of Recruitment Captain has continued to seen activity and Europeia peaked at over 1000 members this term. However, notably, there appears to be little integration projects completed by the ministry. The ministry has a vacant position for senior deputy minister of integration and the only recorded integration official - Deputy Minister of Off-Forum Integration Caleban - does not appear to have completed any visible work. Upon further investigation, Caleban has updated dispatches and completed other projects, but the publicity of such work is scarce. The ministry has still received an incredibly favourable result despite any concerns.

The Ministry of Radio has kept its positive streak from the last term, with a satisfaction rating with 79.2 percent and only a single dissatisfied respondent from the poll. Again, the ministry has seen continuations of shows and series from before and even more casual shows instead of more formal interviews and programmes, specific examples including discussing Mental Health Awareness Month (May) and Pride Month (June). In the former Minister's own words, "few other regions can claim to have weekly (or near weekly) radio programs." It is clear that the electorate appreciates the works completed by the ministry this term, though with the resignation of three-term-Minister of Radio Pichtonia, it is unclear whether this will extend into further terms.

Possible First Minister Candidates

Respondents were requested to write in who they would like to see running for first minister in the upcoming elections. The results were as follows: Top to bottom, it is arranged first by the number of votes, then alphabetically. Names marked with an asterisk (*) are those that were suggested using the "Other" checkbox.

Hezekon - 15 (62.5 percent)
Prim - 15 (62.5 percent)
Astrellan - 14 (58.3 percent)
Deepest House - 11 (45.8 percent)
HEM - 11 (45.8 percent)
Rand - 11 (45.8 percent)
Whitmark - 10 (41.7 percent)
Aexnidaral - 9 (37.5 percent)
DictatorAnna10 - 9 (37.5 percent)
Drecq - 9 (37.5 percent)
Pichtonia - 9 (37.5 percent)
Sopo - 9 (37.5 percent)
Kuramia - 8 (33.3 percent)
UnitedPeoplesofCentrism - 7 (29.2 percent)
Vlaska - 6 (25 percent)
Izzy - 3 (12.5 percent)
cuddlebuns* - 1 (4.2 percent)
Darcness* - 1 (4.2 percent)
Olde Delaware* - 1 (4.2 percent)
GraVandius* - 1 (4.2 percent)
Lethen* - 1 (4.2 percent)
Lloenflys* - 1 (4.2 percent)
Malashaan* - 1 (4.2 percent)

At the top of this list, we see three prominent candidates, former-Senator and Councillor of World Assembly Affairs Prim, Minister of Communications Hezekon and Senator Astrellan, with only a single vote separating the latter from the rest. Prim is an official usually known for his contribution to the Senate and also his work in the external executive. This makes his popularity for first minister, a domestic-focused position, an unusual event but not one unexpected. His hard work in the Senate has translated into a high satisfaction rate in this month's related poll, and he enjoys high regard throughout the region.

The other two names are rising stars relatively new to the region. Hezekon's and Astrellan's rise to popularity started in the Ministry of Communications last term, where they kept up a steady stream of work from the ministry despite its leadership issues. Since then, Hezekon has moved on to become Minister of Communications and has enjoyed the highest satisfaction rate out of all Cabinet officials in this poll. Astrellan meanwhile has moved into becoming a Senator, and is recently starting his second term in the Senate. Both candidates have seen high satisfaction and approval rates on related polls and this may have contributed to them receiving such high encouragement from participants.

Just below them, we see Vice Chancellor Deepest House (DH), Founder HEM, former-First Minister and Senator Rand, along with Minister of Interior Whitmark in a strong position in the chart. All of them apart from the latter are long-time residents of Europeia with a strong political history, and Whitmark is a popular relatively-new person to Europeia, who has already occupied two different Cabinet positions and received a high satisfaction rate from this poll. They are clear and obvious choices for the position of first minister.

Coming to the middle of the chart, we see a variety of names, among them Deputy First Minister Sopo (making this a surprising result, as Sopo did not score high in his satisfaction rating comparatively to other government officials) and Senator DictatorAnna10, who is currently looking forward to her first term on the Senate.

And finally, at the end of the chart, we see names like former Justice Vlaska and newcomer Senator UnitedPeoplesofCentrism. We also see candidates who were suggested individually by the respondents, with each only receiving one vote, seeming to suggest that they were not popular choices for the position.

Apart from notable places such as the Minister and Ministry of Culture, and the Minister and Ministry of Employment, First Minister Lloenfly's government has seen a widely successful term in terms of satisfaction. However, with Lloenflys stating his intention not to rerun, there has only been one candidate standing for the position at the time of writing - Pichtonia and his deputy Whitmark. This would lead to an uncontested election. There are many great names on the list of possible first minister candidates and the author encourages anyone considering running for the office to give it a try, as the region sorely needs it.
 
Great write-up, Siph! A very interesting poll, and a wonderful, thorough analysis of the many, many numbers we had. Thank you for taking the time to make such a great article. Wonderful!
 
Thanks for the article. This got out pretty quick and really timely as well.
 
Informative article; I can't say I'm surprised at the increase in "neutral" opinions towards the Executive as a whole
 
Yeah, I struggle to rate this term. I think Lleon has been a great leader in the holistic sense that he gets what problems the community is facing and tries to solve them. I'm a little more critical of his management strategy, in that certain departments have really soared due to the strength of the leaders and other departments have fallen off the map. Lleon essentially tried to run culture himself, but other than that I have no idea what even came out of that department. I just realized we never even replaced Shuffie, who resigned a month ago.

I think the next First Minister is going to need to go into the role knowing they need to be creative with how they structure their governments. I feel like both Lleon and Kuramia have gotten to places where...nobody "traditionally credentialed" has stepped forward for a role, and just left it vacant. I think the old paradigms of experience are going to need to be ditched to some extent or another, and leaders are going to need to be more flexible and actively doing HR-style recruiting for certain roles. I know this is easily said than done, but we still have dozens of citizens, so it can be done.

Looking at it from another perspective, this is a pretty cool opportunity to be a new member here because I think you have leverage to get Cabinet-level jobs super quick, and have more say in what exactly the job entails.

Overall, if Lleon were running for re-election I wouldn't rule him out, but I'd have some questions I'd need him to answer in the campaign before voting for him again.
 
A great write up! Unfortunately, I waited until now to read it and missed out on building on that broad base of support for a FM run :p
 
A great write up! Unfortunately, I waited until now to read it and missed out on building on that broad base of support for a FM run :p
So we're even with one vote of support each...is that good for me or bad for you? ?
 
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