Respondents also named the leader of the Social Democrats, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, among the country's most trusted politicians.
In a poll commissioned by Elta and Baltic Research, the respondents were asked to say which Lithuanian public figures they trusted most– they mentioned the names themselves. 21.1% of respondents said they trusted President Nausėda, 7.8% trusted Žemaitaitis and 6.8% trusted Blinkevičiūtė.
Respondents also named public figure Andrius Tapinas (5%), outgoing President Dalia Grybauskaitė (5%), Chairman of the Democratic Union In the Name of Lithuania (Vardan Lietuvos) Saulius Skvernelis (5%), Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė (4%), outgoing President Valdas Adamkus (3%), Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasčiūnas, lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė (3%), and Ramūnas Karbauskis, Chairman of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union (LVŽS) (2%).
Respondents also mentioned the mayor of Širvintai district, Živilė Pinskuvienė, lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė, who tried his luck in the presidential elections, the Speaker of the Seimas, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, the Chairman of the Party of Regions of Lithuania, Jonas Pinskus, the leader of the Conservatives, Gabrielius Landsbergis, and the President of the Union of People and Justice, Petras Gražulis, Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė, Mayor of Kaunas Visvaldas Matijošaitis, Leader of the Peasants' list for the Seimas election Aurelija Veryga, Chairman of the Supreme Council-Seimas, Vytautas Landsbergis, Leader of the People's Party of Lithuania's list for the Seimas election Eduardas Vaitkus, MEP Virginius Sinkevičius, and Member of the Seimas Gintautas Paluckas, a social democrat.
The survey conducted in August also shows that, compared to the data from May this year, among the most trusted Lithuanian politicians and public figures, the population more often than before mentioned Pinskuvienė, Veryga, and Paluckas, who have been repeatedly named in the public space as a potential LSDP candidate for Prime Minister during this period.
In August 2024, respondents mentioned 84 public figures (compared to 105 in May) whom they trusted most. A third (34%) of the respondents said no public figures they trusted or did not answer the question.
Sociologist: trust rating correlates with public visibility
Rasa Ališauskienė, the Head of Baltic Research, emphasises that the most important thing is that the trust rating is a kind of litmus test that reveals how visible politicians have been in public recently.
„This trust rating is highly correlated with visibility. The most active politicians are usually named – those who do not allow themselves to be forgotten,“ Ališauskienė told Elta, stressing that this survey is also an essential signal for politicians before the Seimas elections.
„Awareness is always important for politicians – if they don't know you, they won't vote for you. A politician may be better or worse perceived, but the most important thing is to be recognised,“ she stressed.
The sociologist points to the trust expressed by the respondents towards Žemaitaitis.
„One has to assume that this result is due not only to Žemaitaitis participation in the presidential elections but also to the fact that he founded a party and has been actively working with the voters over the summer. This activity is bearing fruit,“ she said.
In the opinion of the Head of Baltic Research, a similar trend can be drawn from the gradually increasing number of Pinskuvienė's trust rating, which, according to the sociologist, has recently been mentioned frequently in the public space.
The survey took place between 7 and 19 August 2024. It was carried out through personal interviews with 1018 Lithuanian citizens (aged 18 and over) at 109 sampling points. The composition of the respondents corresponds to the composition of the Lithuanian population aged 18 years and over in terms of gender, age, nationality, and type of settlement. The people surveyed reflect the opinion of the Lithuanian population aged 18 and over. The margin of error of the survey results is up to 3.1%.
