Midterm Poll: Europeians view Administration positively, with room for improvement




Midterm Executive Poll Shows State of Administration
Europeians Satisfied, but see room for improvement

Written by Maowi and PhDre



The November 2022 Executive Midterm Poll was conducted between December 21st and December 28th, and received 21 responses, less than the previous Midterm Poll. Note that the vast majority of respondents submitted prior to the NationStates website breaking for four days. This Poll gives Europeians their first look at President Icarus's approval a bit past the halfway point of their first term in Office.

Midterm Satisfaction Ratings

Overall Executive Satisfaction: 80% Very Satisfied / Satisfied | 14% Neutral | 4% Dissatisfied
Is Europeia on the Right Track? 66% Yes | 24 % Unsure | 10 % No


80% of respondents are satisfied with the Executive Branch as a whole, but enthusiasm is not strong - only 10% are Very Satisfied.

67% believe Europeia is on the right track, which is slightly up from the last time this question was asked (60%).

The Goldenblock

President Icarus
She’s holding her own as a first time President.

Ica has had a lot of obstacles to overcome, but she's doing her best - and her best is pretty good!

I think, on a whole, that she's been dealing well with some unanticipated hurdles (e.g. Ministry replacements). I think we're on the right track, and I think Icarus is more than capable. I also think that she's been falling prey to some classic First President Problems. For one, it's always awkward when you don't consult the EAAC about a "thing," but it's worse when it becomes a public fiasco. It happens! Even WritingLegend had some first- and second-term gaffes and obviously he learned from it and moved on! I think the only real criticism I have for Icarus now, as an outsider, is that she doesn't know when to stop talking. There are times it's appropriate to speak up; times you need to simply stay out of it; and times you need to address things privately but be quiet in public. She needs someone in her corner to help with this PR, or to at least do the PR battle on her behalf...I'd be curious to know who her advisors are, but maybe that's the salacious tea-drinking Kermit in me.

I have seen some of ica's work being done but i have yet to see much.

It’s been okay in a good way

Things just seem to be happening. Where is the leadership?

President Icarus has a 62% satisfaction rating, with 10% Very Satisfied. No Minister or Ministry received fewer Very Satisfied responses, suggesting that respondents have a very high standard for the Presidency. Despite this, Icarus is applauded by commenters for her work in her first term as President, though some desire more visible leadership.

Vice President Istillian
Very pleased to see more activity from the Office of the Bide President relative to recent terms! Great job, Istillian.

Ok, I think - not really sure what all he's doing.

I do love Istillian, and I assume he's doing things (curse of the VP and all that). My sole concern really lies with my comments earlier about Icarus, particularly her advisors and her public PR battles. Is Istillian too nice to sometimes give blunt honesty and some harsh truths to his President?

I have not seen isty doing much so far this term like isty is not here or even seen!

Probably holding this cabinet together but that’s not a bad thing
Vice President Istillian received an 81% satisfaction rating, with 14% having a Neutral opinion. The majority of respondents registered soft support for the Vice President, matching comments which point to his behind the scenes role. Historically, Vice Presidents have struggled to raise their visibility - successfully raising his profile could result in an even more successful back half of the term for Istillian.

Europeian Republican Navy

Overall

Former Grand Admiral Kuramia
Shame to see her step away!

Kura did an amazing job, i wish to work with her more in the future!

Very good

Bad timing, but our most visible and measurabke success was the two libs immediately after Kuramia resigned

Nomination of Cove

The Europeian Republican Navy received very strong marks, perhaps off of the back of a hugely successful liberation of New Westphalia. During the poll, the ERN also liberated The Potato Union. These string of historic victories came after Grand Admiral Kuramia’s resignation for real life reasons, but the string of operations conducted in the first half of the term were enough to give the former Grand Admiral an 86% approval rating, wth no dissaprovals - best overall rating in the Icarus Cabinet.

Meanwhile, newly confirmed Grand Admiral Cove’s nomination received a 100% approval rating from respondents.

Interior

Overall


Minister Vor
Vor has been doing the most in his position, really great to see him in the cabinet again.

Vor gets so much work done

Outside of the disappearing act pulled by "we're going to have game-side players recruit," I think Vor's done a great job. Already a few things were checked off the to-do list, including some major Handbook updates. No news is good news?

Vor has set some of the best goals and i respect vor for taking the offer!!

Respondents viewed returning Minister of Interior Vor's start to the term positively, giving him a satisfaction rating of 86% with a few dissasified ratings. Vor recently launched a Christmas manual recruitment incentive as part of this administration's efforts to deepen the pool of active recruiters; this was an area of concern noted by last term's minister Le Libertie. The citizenry will likely have to wait for end of term numbers to evaluate the success of these attempts.

Commenters registered approval of Vor's productivity so far, though one mentioned the Icarus/Istillian platform plank of involving gameside-only nations in manual recruitment, which does not appear to have been pursued yet.

Communications

Overall


MInister PhDre
Bringing some much needed structure and ideas

Quality print and radio pieces seem to be more common since PhDre has taken over the unified Ministry of Communications.

Tangential, but weird the drop-down lists Dre for two ministries instead of the combined ministry name. I think Dre's done a good job, but the next hurdle will be trying to get radio back into a real groove. We have planned shows, sure, but I think we're seeing another downside of players' reticence to be trained on Spotify: fun spur-of-the-moment shows simply aren't happening as much as they used to

PhDre is over qualified and i hope he continues to do great!

Clearly it was a mistake to get rid of the Radio Ministry, Radio has fallen to the wayside completely.

PhDre also received top marks from poll respondents with 86% approval – however, three Europeians expressed dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Communications itself, which for the first time in years is also responsible for producing radio content. The comments tell a similar story; PhDre's effectiveness and organisational skills were praised, but concern was raised by some about radio content under the new structure.

World Assembly Affairs

Overall


Minister Pland Adanna
Doesn't seem like PA is doing much.

Simply don't follow WA enough to know one way or another

Pland Adanna tries their best to get activity but i see the same problem as last term when there wasn't alot of activity.

No fault of PA but it's time to consider folding this Ministry into FA.

The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs received the lowest approval this midterm as activity issues from last term continued to plague the ministry, which sits at 57% satisfaction. In a frank midterm address, Minister Pland Adanna reported that progress has been made in getting more ministry members to author IFVs, but that considerable improvement is still needed. Pland Adanna's own approval rating is higher than that of his ministry, as reflected in comments that the ministry is struggling despite his best efforts. However, he enters the second half of term on an upwards trajectory with the time and experience to obtain positive results, though he has indicated he will not return in this role next term.

Foreign Affairs

Overall


Minister Writinglegend
Gleg is still doing a lot of heavy lifting. I appreciate him.

Great that WL is I assume now using his platform as MoFA to further solidify all the FA moves he made as President, but I wonder what his thoughts are about the fiasco with the NS Christmas Charity. Particularly the whole IC side of this conversation, if there is an IC side (that seems to be a point of contention)

I know no doubt that Writinglegend is doing his best to make sure the Ministry is organized and active!!

Coming out of three consecutive terms as president, Minister of Foreign Affairs Writinglegend received an 86% satisfaction score from poll respondents, indicating that the citizenry is very happy with his performance in the role. His efforts to improve the ministry's visibility, for example posting notices in the Europeian forum of statements delivered abroad, seem to have paid off in public perception. This bucks a long-standing trend of foreign affairs ministers that are not forging (or burning) treaties being punished at the polls for their ministry's low visibility.

Ministry of Culture

Overall


Former Minister Turbiatop
Culture needs some work. Unfortunately the timing means not a whole lot will happen before the end of the term.

Sad to see turb resign and i understand why he did due to irl stuff and not having time anymore but overall i enjoyed it alot when turb was the Minister of culture as he had great ideas and made fun events on the gameside!

Nomination of Sopo

Respondents gave the Ministry of Culture a 61% approval rating for the first half of term, placing it towards the lower end of the ministries in this poll. This may have been affected by Turbiatop's resignation as minister shortly before this poll was opened. The major event of his tenure was Deepest House's Ovation ceremony. His replacement, Sopo, was viewed very favourably with 95% of respondents approving of the nomination, and has extensive experience leading this ministry.

Attorney General Lloenflys
Lloen has been on it with his Legislative Assessments

I have not seen much from Lloen so far this term but i will be on the lookout to see if i am wrong.

I love Lloen

The Attorney General received a mostly positive response from respondents, with one commenter complimenting Lloenflys' lengthy Legislative Assessments. 86% of respondents were satisfied with the AG’s performance.

Who would you have voted for in the Previous Presidential Election?

A slim majority of respondents would have voted for Icarus again in the November 2022 Presidential Election, mirroring the actual election results. This margin must be concerning for the President, whom one would expect could have won over respondents during the term. This result, coupled with the soft approval for the President in the first half of the term, suggests that the field is open for the upcoming January 20th Presidential election.
 
Oh so NOW all the unsure responses disappear from the AG rating….

I haven’t compared the past AG numbers, so maybe they’ve been on an upward tick and I just haven’t noticed, but that number really caught my attention.

Also, I still hate the fact that we poll Minister and ministry separately.
 
Very interesting results! I really enjoyed your analysis, PhDre.
Also, I still hate the fact that we poll Minister and ministry separately.
I personally like it at the moment. :p
 
No fault of PA but it's time to consider folding this Ministry into FA.
The trend of seeing a struggling ministry and seeking to solve its issues by folding it into another one is a concerning trend that will only worsen the issues.
 
Oh so NOW all the unsure responses disappear from the AG rating….
Ratings are (imo) more a reflection of how respondents percieve Ministers / office holders. Lloen is a long time legal mind so the default position for respondents is not "Unsure / Neutral."

Also, I still hate the fact that we poll Minister and ministry separately.
On the other hand, separating Ministries and Ministers is interesting (to me!) because it allows us to see what Ministries are "underperforming" their MInisters, which suggests trouble / weakness in that area, and to identify office holders with strong bases of support / are valued.

Very interesting results! I really enjoyed your analysis, PhDre.
Much credit goes to Maowi!

No fault of PA but it's time to consider folding this Ministry into FA.
The trend of seeing a struggling ministry and seeking to solve its issues by folding it into another one is a concerning trend that will only worsen the issues.
Maybe so, but we shouldn't sustain Ministries for the sake of it, reevaulating the workload needed for a Ministry and asking ourselves if the work could be better / more effectively done within FA for example is not a worrying trend (to me). Rather the opposite - it is encouraging that some folks aren't willing to just keep going along doing things the way we do them for the sake of it.
 
Also, I still hate the fact that we poll Minister and ministry separately.
I've always liked that we do, since it helps point things out like whether or not a particular Minister is more or less popular; how much great work in the Ministry may be getting done by primarily the staff; etc.
 
I did say I hate that fact... :p

I know it's an upward battle, but I just don't think it's that significant to ask both questions, and it makes the poll twice as long. The work of a minister should be tied to the ministry imo. I don't know -- I feel like in the end the work of a ministry is what really matters, and sometimes asking about the minister turns into somewhat of a popularity contest based on how the region feels about that individual, rather than strictly being on their work this term...

Part of me also thinks that it's INSANE that we have "approval" polls in a volunteer game, and it makes me feel like there is A LOT of pressure put on these individuals who are volunteering their time and sometimes the feedback can be really tough for them. Especially in periods of low activity where the minister is 80% of the ministry. But w/e
 
I did say I hate that fact... :p

I know it's an upward battle, but I just don't think it's that significant to ask both questions, and it makes the poll twice as long. The work of a minister should be tied to the ministry imo. I don't know -- I feel like in the end the work of a ministry is what really matters, and sometimes asking about the minister turns into somewhat of a popularity contest based on how the region feels about that individual, rather than strictly being on their work this term...

Part of me also thinks that it's INSANE that we have "approval" polls in a volunteer game, and it makes me feel like there is A LOT of pressure put on these individuals who are volunteering their time and sometimes the feedback can be really tough for them. Especially in periods of low activity where the minister is 80% of the ministry. But w/e
This is actually a little of why I am worried about making the PA the repository of “oversight for fun” … do we want to be in a region that makes a game out of “gotcha” with ministers? Yes people fall down and need to be questioned and maybe removed from time to time but I think functional oversight is work, not fun, and if we treat it like the “fun thing that makes the PA work” it feels like it’s likely to make being a minister kind of suck

EDITED: yes I originally said monster instead of minister. Purely an accident I’m sure 👀
 
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do we want to be in a region that makes a game out of “gotcha” with ministers? Yes people fall down and need to be questioned and maybe removed from time to time
When it comes to oversight/approval polls, I do think the region fixates more on the gotcha/negative aspects of performance as well -- but that is probably expected when we consider that this is a political game and there is some competition involved. I'll acknowledge that approval polls/oversight is likely here to stay, and is probably needed in some capacity, but sometimes I do wonder if it can be a bit harsh at times, especially for a game where any and all time we put in is all volunteer-based.
 
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