What do Romanians think about the return to the monarchy?

Almost two-thirds of Romanians (66%) believe that Romania should remain a republic and not return to the monarchy, according to a poll conducted by Avangarde and released on Friday.

To the question “Do you think that, in the future, Romania should change its form of political-state organization and return to the monarchy as it was until 1947”, 18% of those interviewed answered affirmatively, 66% negatively, and 13 % “could not appreciate”. 3% opted for the “Don’t know/Don’t answer” option.

According to the survey, among the Romanian monarchs, King Mihai “did the most good for the country” – 19% believe this. The next ranked are King Charles I (14%) and King Ferdinand (8%).

Queen consort Maria, wife of King Ferdinand, comes next, with 4%. The rest assessed that “none of them did good for the country” (6%), 16% cannot assess, and 33% ticked the option “I don’t know/I don’t answer”.

Asked about the opinion regarding “what was the monarchical institution in Romania”, 44% of Romanians say that they have “a good opinion”, 30% “do not have a good opinion”, 22% “do not have a formed opinion”, and 4 % did not answer.

About the daughter of King Michael, Margareta, 32% of the respondents said that they have “a good opinion”, 44% “neither good nor bad”, 7% “bad”, 9% “don’t have an opinion or don’t know who she is” and 8% did not answer. Radu, Margareta’s husband, is well perceived by 12% of Romanians, 31% say they have “no good opinion, but neither bad”, 13% have “a bad opinion”, 31% have “no opinion or don’t know who it is” and 13% did not answer.

According to the Avangarde poll, the opinion of Romanians about the King of Great Britain, Charles III, is “good” in proportion of 35%, “neither good nor bad” in proportion of 45%, “bad” in proportion of 12%, 2 % do not have “an opinion or do not know who it is”, and 6% did not answer.

The survey entitled “Monarchical institution in Romania. Perceptions and representations” was conducted by telephone, between May 29 and June 1, 2023, on a nationally representative sample of 864 subjects, at least 18 years old. The maximum sampling error, at a 95% confidence level, is plus/minus 3.4%.