A little more than a month after the start of the "Radev" cabinet - what is the assessment of the Bulgarians? Does the government retain the trust of the people? Is the feeling of the direction in which the country is heading changing?
In the studio of "This Morning" Dobromir Zhivkov presented the results of the latest national representative survey by bTV and "Market Links".
A national survey was financed and implemented jointly by bTV and "Market Links". It was conducted among 1005 people over 18 years of age in the country between June 13 and 21 this year using the methods of direct personal interviews and an online survey.
Trust in the National Assembly – partially restored
Dobromir Zhivkov pointed out that there is a partial restoration of trust in the National Assembly – “after this very low finale that the previous parliament had with only 6% trust“.
“We even see a positive change between the first two months of the current National Assembly – from 19% to 22%. More or less, we can expect this to remain as a more positive background in society regarding trust in the parliament. The more anti-systemic formations that shaped the appearance of the previous national assemblies are actually not there now and they are spoken in a much different way“, the sociologist commented.
“The political language has returned much closer to normality, where it should be, of course. The style is much more moderate. So, in my opinion, we will see a much calmer parliament – not from a political point of view, but at least in terms of the way in which the individual parliamentary groups present themselves through their spokesmen and persons”, he added.
“I think that we will have some restoration, and a sustainable one, of trust in the parliament“, commented Dobromir Zhivkov.
This is the highest trust in the last nine months. The 51st National Assembly could not boast of such trust.
“Only at the beginning there were similar values, as usually happens after every election. Now we also have such an effect“, the sociologist noted.
Attitude towards the government - distrust is increasing
“There is a public reaction to what is visible in the first month and a half of this cabinet's work. The public reaction is not positive. Distrust towards the cabinet is increasing by 6%. At the same time, those who say they have trust in it are decreasing by 5%. The result is still very high - 45% trust in the cabinet. In principle, this is an extremely strong start. Especially if we compare it with September 2025 and the caretaker cabinet, when we had about 20-25%. Still, 50% is a very high level. The results were measured before the official announcement of the budget“, noted Zhivkov.
According to him, the government will not receive this traditional 100-day tolerance, which is usually given to those in power after elections, because society is highly reactive and much more difficult to succumb to attempts to gain its trust through populist measures.
„Real reforms and real measures are expected that sound convincing and are sufficiently well-argued. What we have seen even in recent days as a reaction to the budget actually shows a completely different direction of movement“, he commented.
Distrust in Prime Minister Radev is growing
„What we saw with trust in the government is almost mirrored by trust in Prime Minister Radev. In his case, the decline, as we call it in the net rating, is not 11%, as we saw with the government, but 9%“, commented Dobromir Zhivkov.
“That is, we have a decrease of about 3% in the declared trust in him, but at the same time an increase of 6% in distrust. This shows the very strong majoritarian influence and the strong figure of the prime minister, who largely determines public attitudes towards the cabinet. The relationship between the prime minister and the government is also very clearly visible in the changes we have observed this month in trust in Mr. Radev“, he pointed out.
Trust in other political leaders: Peevski with record low trust
However, there is a very big difference compared to other political leaders.
In second place is Kostadin Kostadinov from “Vazrazhdane“ with 14% trust and 65% distrust, followed by Bozhidar Bozhanov with 11% trust and 61% distrust and Ivaylo Mirchev with 12% trust and 63% distrust.
“We should note that trust remains in the positive part of the scale especially for the prime minister, while the other political leaders continue to hover around 9-14% trust“, the sociologist noted.
They are ranked in the study again by the so-called net rating – the difference between the positive and negative rating.
Atanas Atanasov from “Democratic Bulgaria“ has 9% trust, Asen Vassilev - 12%, Boyko Borisov - 13%, and Delyan Peevski with a record low trust of 6% and a record high distrust of 90%.
“Progressive Bulgaria“ increases its support
“Here we want to see whether the attitudes we currently register are also reflected in the most solid indicator - electoral support for political formations. We must say, however, that it remains very close to the election results. We should even note that “Progressive Bulgaria“, albeit minimally, is increasing its support. This may seem paradoxical in a situation where we see a decline in trust in both the cabinet and the prime minister,“ pointed out Dobromir Zhivkov.
Assessment of the first month of the "Radev" cabinet: 21% believe it seems unprepared
According to the conclusions of the survey, over 50% of respondents are inclined to support or at least accept without much criticism the actions of the cabinet. For example, 41% believe that the government is trying to bring order after the chaos, and 19% are of the opinion that the government is making mistakes, but it is too early for a final assessment.
On the other hand, about a third of people have more critical attitudes towards the current government. 21% believe that the government seems unprepared, and 11% accept the more serious accusation that this administration is not changing the model it has stated it will fight against when it comes to power.
That is, there is some hesitation regarding what this cabinet and this administration can offer, but support for it is still dominant“, stated Dobromir Zhivkov.
Agreement with statements about the new administration: "The government inherits a difficult financial situation"
Here we observe the extent to which people agree with opposing statements.
On one side is the thesis that the government inherits a difficult financial situation and must make difficult but necessary decisions, including those related to increasing the state debt.
On the other side is the opinion that the bad inheritance is being used as an excuse. This position is shared by 29% of respondents.
But these 56% who accept the thesis of the heavy legacy are a significant share.
"But let's also pay attention to the initiative “Basket with Care“. In fact, this is a typical populist tool and we see almost parity in the assessments. 42% believe that the initiative shows that the government thinks about the people, while 38% are of the opinion that this is more of a PR move that hides the real problems in the budget. In other words, populist measures do not work in the way that can be expected, the conclusions of the study show," commented Zhivkov.
What do people think about the direction in which the country is developing
When new cabinets come into power, the assessment of the direction of development usually becomes more positive. It should be noted that the high hopes and expectations for the work of the new cabinet, which began even before the elections with the announcement of the new formation, continue to exist.
However, in the last month this upward trend has begun to take the form of a plateau, instead of continuing steeply upwards. That is, there is currently some slippage in public attitudes towards this government, Dobromir Zhivkov pointed out.