Post CoS Election Poll: Results Show a Divided but Satisfied Electorate

[United Vietussia]

Post CoS Election Poll: Results Show A Divided but Satisfied Electorate
poll conducted and analyzed by United Vietussia
​

To wrap up the recent Chief of State election, The Arnhelm Review conducted a poll regarding a few facets of the election. What follows are the results of that poll and some analysis of the results.

Election Polling

Spoiler: Are you a Senator?

We first asked respondents if they were Senators. 20% of them (6 total) responded that they are, and we have no reason to believe that this number is not accurate after comparing responses from these individuals to the Senate vote total.

Spoiler: Who would you have voted for in this election? (all respondents)

Spoiler: Who would you have voted for in this election? (non-Senators)

Our poll shows that half of respondents would have voted for HEM/Pichtonia, which seemed largely reflected in the posted rationales by Senators when voting. This was a very close election, but in the end, many Senators that were purportedly on the fence ended up breaking for HEM's campaign for the most part. Removing Senate votes changes very little, as HEM's vote share stays the same and JayDee only gains about a percentage point.

Spoiler: Who would you have voted for in this election? (push)

Spoiler: Who would you have voted for in this election? (push) (non-Senators only)

When forced to answer, HEM ekes out a very slim majority over JayDee, but the electorate still seems largely divided. Undecideds tended to break a bit more for JayDee than HEM, but HEM still had a slight majority. When Senators were factored out, HEM's majority barely increased by about a percentage point. If put to a general populace vote, it's reasonable to believe that this might have been a close election, but it's likely that HEM would have probably still pulled it out in the end.

Councils
(means are rounded to the nearest hundredth when necessary)

Spoiler: Foreign Affairs

Median: 4
Mode: 5
Mean: 4.37

Spoiler: Navy

Median: 3.5
Mode: 4
Mean: 3.37

Spoiler: World Assembly

Median: 3
Mode: 3
Mean: 3.07

Spoiler: External Communications (EECT/NS Forum Engagement)

Median: 3
Mode: 3
Mean: 3.27

Spoiler: Which Council was most important in determining your vote?

Council Rankings
1. Foreign Affairs - 4.37
-------------MEAN----------------3.52
2. Navy - 3.37
-------------MEDIAN-------------3.32
3. External Communications - 3.27
4. World Assembly - 3.07

Foreign Affairs is still king in the realm of Chief of State, and by quite a large margin. Perhaps most surprising is the still in infancy realm of External Communications ending up ahead of the World Assembly, a Council which has raised concerns of citizen apathy in the past few days, with articles being published to help get citizens interested in joining the Council of World Assembly Affairs and a plan set out by HEM to try to drum up interest in this area.

Representation

Spoiler: Do you feel like the currently elected Senators represented your interests when voting for Chief of State?

Spoiler: Do you feel like the currently elected Senators represented the interests of the general Europeian citizenry when voting for Chief of State?

We're seeing a not insignificant portion of our respondents not feeling personally represented in the Chief of State election, but almost all respondents overwhelmingly believe that the Senate represents the general interests of Europeia when voting for Chief of State. It's an interesting delineation that may merit further discussion, as some individual voters have indicated that they don't feel personally represented but that they also feel like the Senators are effectively representing the general population.

Spoiler: As a whole, do you believe that the Senate vote is a sufficiently representative process to choose the Chief of State?

Over two-thirds of respondents support the current Chief of State voting system, but of those two-thirds, one-third indicated that they had some form of reservation when supporting the system. A sizable minority also indicated that they did not support the current voting system, but of that minority, about a third also indicated that they had some form of reservation. By and large, the current Chief of State voting system still maintains strong support and satisfaction from citizens, but there is still some opposition within Europeia.

Further Comments

Spoiler: Further Comments

I feel like there was more support for JayDee outside the Senate than there was inside
Jaydee was not a good councilor. He started strong then stopped caring. I assume his energy went to running for chief of state. I wish his ticket had been reversed.
I'm not sure Senate election is the best process, but I believe it is better than an election of the full citizenry and I haven't seen a better proposal yet
idk, it was a real hard choice, too hard too decide

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That wraps up our analysis for this poll. Thank you to the respondents who took the time to make their voice heard, and we hope that this analysis helps provide a clearer picture of the state of Europeian politics.

 

[JayDee]

Jaydee was not a good councilor. He started strong then stopped caring. I assume his energy went to running for chief of state. I wish his ticket had been reversed.

To answer this person’s concerns, I feel like this was a large issue of visibility. Kind of hypocritical considering I ran on more visibility, and I’m sorry it seemed like I checked out. I was actually working a lot behind the scenes with my DCs and fellow ministers to help expand the office and generate interest,

I was also reaching out to a lot of people within the Council to encourage newer people to write IFVs for resolution and get them involved in the process.

I understand there is more I could have done, but I know Aex will be able to pick up the slack and continue towards expanding the office.

 

[Sopo]

This is essentially what I wanted when I (along with others) pushed for the indirect election of the Chief of State. This was exciting, fun, different, and very suspenseful. I feel like the senators took their duty seriously and, regardless of how they voted, came to their conclusions after hefty deliberation and questioning. I hope we see more elections as interesting as this one.

 

[Prim]

I agree with Sopo, I think this election really helped the image of the Senate CoS Election process, quite a few Senators posted well-reasoned and thought-out rationale for their votes and I think that was really the main goal behind the method.

Yes, and because of the process, it can look more lop-sided in support for HEM than a general election would have looked, but I think the fact that numerous Senators posted that they were really on the fence and had to deliberate about their decision really shows that the "support" was a lot more even than the vote count may display.

 

[Darcness]

One thing I, as a citizen, rather than a candidate, would have liked would have been something on the Senate floor for the election.

While I understand that questions can be asked in the Oval Room, those can get pretty chaotic. As a voter, I would like to see that my Senators are engaged in the election, and that can be hard to track in the general election threads. Is it worth having a separate campaign thread in the Senate?

 

[Lethen]

I don't think so, personally. I do think it's clunky that we have platforms in the oval room, though the other alternatives are also similarly clunky

 

[Drecq]

I personally oppose separating the Senate side of the CoS campaign in the Senate. Having it all where not only candidates and Senators, but all other citizens too, can post might be a little hectic but it also allows for more contact between the Senate and the people. And since Senate accountability for CoS election votes has been a concern I would prefer to maximize that contact. Senators have to read what Citizens post instead if being separated and even Citizens who do not read what is on the Senate floor will read a Senators questions in the campaign thread, assuming they read those.

 

[Malashaan]

On the question about senators representing the respondents' interests, the results make sense in view of the polling of preferred ticket. 50% voted for HEM and 50% said yes, their interests were represented without reservation. It is only natural that people who didn't support the end result would at a minimum have reservations that their interests were represented.