King Willem-Alexander’s Popularity Stabilizes Amidst Declining Monarchy Support: NOS Study

Confidence in King Willem-Alexander has been structurally lower than before since the corona crisis, but now it seems to be stabilizing a bit. Support for the monarchy is also not at the level it was before the corona crisis, but the form of government can count on the support of a small majority of the population.

This is evident from the year King’s Day NOS Study, which was conducted in the middle of this month by the research group Ipsos I&O among 1015 people. There are striking differences between young and old people.

The Dutch rate King Willem-Alexander with 6.6. That’s compared to the 6.5 he got last year, but well below the 7.7 he could count on in 2020.

That year the king still received the confidence of three quarters of the people. Since then, confidence has fallen, to 44 percent in 2024. So there is no recovery, although the group that has (very) little confidence in the king has not grown any longer -year.

Young people (18-35 years) and old people (55 years or older) think differently about the king’s performance. Last year, 51 percent of young people said they were satisfied with the king, now that’s 41 percent. At 47 percent, older people are almost as satisfied with Willem-Alexander as they were a year earlier.

There is also a difference between generations when it comes to evaluating the king’s qualities. For example, half of the elderly find the king ‘engaged’, compared to only 29 per cent of the young. Older people also often find Willem-Alexander ‘human’ and ‘compassionate’.

Young people are more satisfied with the way Willem-Alexander works in the media. They think that the king appears ‘natural’ and ‘professional’ more often than old people. As it happened, every generation believes that the king appears less ‘terrible’ in the media.

There is a growing group that does not consider it desirable if the king inevitable and, would express an opinion publicly on politically sensitive issues (30 percent, compared to 25 percent last year). This is according to the pre-corona level.

Queen Máxima gets 7.3, just like last year. Older people (nearly three quarters) are more often satisfied with the Queen’s performance than younger people (more than half). The percentage of interviewees who have moderate or great trust in the queen is 56 percent higher than in the king (44 percent).

Princess Amalia’s rating is also unchanged at 7.0. Many Dutch people have a good opinion of the princess. She has been described as ‘mature’, ‘smart’, ‘engaged’, ‘ambitious’, ‘motivated’ and ‘a great follower’.

Support for the monarchy remains stable compared to recent years, but is much lower than before the corona crisis. Several mistakes by the royal family during that crisis have affected support for the monarchy as a form of government, the researchers conclude. Including the holidays announced in Greece during lockdown. Four years later, according to them, the damage appears to be permanent.

The question of whether the image of the monarchy will improve if the princesses get a public place is more divisive. More than 30 percent expect this to have a positive effect indeed, but more than 40 percent do not think so.

The fact that the eldest child of the monarch is automatically the heir to the throne can count on the support of almost half of the Dutch. After years of decline, support for that tradition now appears to be stabilizing.

The king and his family traditionally visit a town in the Netherlands on King’s Day, such as Emmen this year. Half of the Dutch appreciate this official way of celebrating King’s Day. And the majority believe that it is an important tradition that binds the Dutch together. Although it is clear that old people attach more importance to this tradition than young people.