Ursula von der Leyen has low recognition and weak ratings in France, Germany and Spain

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has low public recognition in parts of the EU and weak approval ratings where she is known, a cross‑national poll shows. Only about one in five respondents in Germany and Spain said she was doing her job well, while in France that share was just 12%.

Poll details and headline findings

Nearly one‑third of respondents in Spain and France, and 45% in Germany, said von der Leyen was doing a poor job. The negative assessment in her native Germany is strongly driven by voters who say they would back the far‑right Alternative for Germany (AfD): more than half of those AfD supporters described her work as "very bad."

Familiarity with von der Leyen also varied. More than one in five respondents in France said they did not know who she was, compared with 10% in Spain and only 5% in Germany. The survey was carried out between 13 and 15 September 2026 and interviewed more than 2,000 adults across France, Germany and Spain. It was published a few hours before von der Leyen delivered her annual State of the Union address for the bloc.

The poll also found limited audience interest in the speech itself: in each country roughly one in ten respondents said they would follow the address closely, while about one in three said they would follow it to some extent. Germans were more likely to pay attention than citizens in Spain or France, where more than half of respondents said they either would not follow the speech despite having heard of it, or had never heard of it.

Pollsters warn these audience numbers may overstate actual attention: respondents told interviewers they would follow even a fictitious event called the "European Convention for Authority," suggesting some respondents give inflated answers about their likely behaviour.

"Von der Leyen faces the same anti‑politics mood that has toppled leaders across Europe, and she will have to work hard to convince Europeans that any EU agenda will address their widespread concerns about the cost of living," said Seb Reid, head of polling at Public First.

Photo: press material from the event