A new survey shows that there is little interest from Poles in former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk making a return to the Polish political scene.
The data shows that 44.8 percent of Poles are against Tusk’s return to Polish politics compared to only 28.3 percent who want him to come back, according to a recent survey by SW Research for Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. Another 26.9 percent declared that they did not have an opinion on the matter.
For several days, Polish media has been filled with reports about the potential return of former Civic Platform (PO) Prime Minister Donald Tusk to Polish politics. Such a move would supposedly help the Civic Platform overcome its current internal crisis.
Tusk himself has not been putting these speculations to rest, as he has stated that he is “mentally, emotionally and vitally” prepared to make any decision which would “help turn around the current state of affairs which is dangerous to Poland”. He also added that this decision was not about his personal ambitions but that his goal was to restore democratic order in Poland.
According to liberal outlet Gazeta Wyborcza, current Civic Platform chairman Borys Budka is to resign from leading the party and Tusk is to replace him as its head.
Allegedly, both politicians discussed this possibility during their meeting in Sopot. Another possible scenario is for Tusk to run in complementary elections to the Polish Senate in which he would replace current Speaker of the Senate Tomasz Grodzki.
Donald Tusk is currently the president of the European People’s Party and remains a PO member.
The head of SW Research, Przemysław Wesołowski pointed out that 54 percent of people aged between 25 and 34 did not want Tusk to return to Polish politics, and 60 percent of people with vocational education also did not want Tusk to become active in Polish politics.
Wesołowski added that in towns with populations above 500,000, fewer people are against Tusk’s potential return to Polish politics — only 37 percent.
The survey was conducted on an online panel between June 15 and June 16 on 800 internet users aged 18 and above.
