A new poll has shed damning light on the current state of Belgian politics, revealing that among Belgium's electorate, there is a widespread lack of trust and even active dislike of the country's political elite.
According to the results of Belgium's most recent annual Big Poll, which was jointly conducted by Het Laatste Nieuws, VTM Nieuws, RTL and Le Soir in collaboration with Ipsos polling agency, 69% of Belgians claimed that they do not trust the country's politicians, while only 24% affirmed that they do.
The poll also found that 71% of Belgians associate politics with negative feelings including distrust, disgust, anxiety, or boredom. Conversely, only 23% stated that politics arouses one or more positive sentiments including hope, interest, trust, or respect. A mere 6% of Belgians claimed that politics evokes neutral or no feelings.
In addition, the study noted that trust in Belgium's political system has declined markedly over the past year: 58% of respondents claimed to have lost trust in Belgian politics since 2022, while a mere 3% said that their level of trust had increased.
Although the poll did not attribute any specific causes to the low — and falling — levels of confidence in the country's political system, it is highly likely that Belgians' increasing pessimism about their financial situation, which in turn was precipitated (and exacerbated) by the country's soaring inflation rate, is principally responsible.
Regional disparities
Although dislike and distrust of politics is widespread across Belgium, Walloons were found to be by far the most negatively disposed: 66% of residents of the country's south affirmed that they are distrustful of or disgusted by Belgian politics, compared to 57% of people in Flanders and 55% of those in Brussels.
Similarly, residents of Wallonia were less likely to associate politics with positive sentiments: only 5% of Walloons claimed that they trust or respect the country's political system, compared to 8% of people in Flanders and 11% of Brussels residents.
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Despite their relative hostility towards the country's political elite, Walloons were also found to be the least interested in the country's political system: only 6% of people in Wallonia said that they found Belgian politics interesting, compared to 12% in Flanders and 9% in Brussels.
The poll also noted that men and women were just as likely as one another to be distrustful of Belgian politicians. However, men were discovered to be slightly more interested in — and marginally less likely to be bored by — Belgian politics than women.
Those aged 55 and over were found to be the age group which was the most distrustful of, as well as the most interested in, Belgian politics. Meanwhile, 35-54-year-olds were the most disgusted, while 18-34-year-olds were the most bored.
