Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has been ranked as the most popular politician among Brussels residents, according to the Grand Barometer survey conducted by Le Soir, RTL, TVI, and Ipsos.
60% of respondents expressed their desire to see De Croo play “an important role” in Belgian society. The current Prime Minister's ranking has recently risen to number one, up from the number two spot last year.
Just behind De Croo in the rankings is Sophie Wilmès, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) politician and former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In April, Wilmès stepped back from frontline politics in order to care for her husband, after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. In September, Wilmès returned to the Federal Parliament, now sitting in the Chamber of Representatives. 59% of respondents spoke positively about the politician.
In third place in the rankings is Paul Magnette, leader of the French-speaking Socialist Party (PS) and current mayor of Charleroi. Magnette has been an outspoken critic of tax evasion and excess energy profits. 39% of respondents spoke favourably of Magnette, the highest ranked left-wing politician.
38% of respondents stated that they wanted to see Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke play an important role in government. Hadja Labib, Belgium’s new journalist-cum-foreign minister has also surged strongly in the polls. Despite a rocky start to her tenure, 37% of people now speak positively of the politician.
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Potentially as a result of the largely unpopular Good Move plan, the general opinion about the leaders of the French-speaking Ecolo and Flemish-speaking Greon parties, Ministers Alain Maron and Elke Van den Brandt, is low. The leaders have dropped five and four places respectively, now ranking as the least popular party leaders. Just 14% approved of Van den Brandt and 19% for Maron.
In terms of representation, the largest fraction (16%) of Brussels residents said that they associated themselves most with former Prime Minister Wilmès. 14% aligned with De Croo, and 11% with the Workers' Party (PTB-PVDA) leader Raoul Hedebouw.
