Rok prezydentury Karola Nawrockiego: ambicje nowego lidera prawicy, podzielone społeczeństwo i trzecie miejsce w historycznym rankingu

A deeply divided public

Exactly one year after the second round of the presidential election on 1 June 2025, Poles remain almost evenly split on Karol Nawrocki's performance. A United Surveys poll for Wirtualna Polska, conducted on 28-29 May 2026, shows 48.2% of respondents view his presidency positively, while 50.1% assess it negatively. The difference falls within the statistical margin of error. Only 1.7% had no opinion.

Historical ranking places Nawrocki third

A separate IBRiS survey for "Rzeczpospolita" asked Poles to name the best president since 1989. Aleksander Kwaśniewski dominated with 40.8% of the vote, followed by the late Lech Kaczyński at 23.5%. Karol Nawrocki secured third place with 21.1%. The remaining presidents trailed far behind: Lech Wałęsa (3.8%), Andrzej Duda (2.4%), Bronisław Komorowski (1.7%), and Wojciech Jaruzelski (0.1%).

Karol Nawrocki is not the president of all Poles. Aleksander Kwaśniewski came closest to that. Nawrocki only said at the beginning that he wanted to be the president of all Poles, but later stopped reaching out to them, settling only for the electorate that voted for him.

Building a new force on the right

Commentators on TOK FM argue that Nawrocki is neither a second Jarosław Kaczyński nor a second Andrzej Duda. Instead, he is actively building his own leadership on the right, with ambitions that extend far beyond the presidential palace. "Rzeczpospolita" notes that while PiS and Konfederacja remain the strongest right-wing parties, Nawrocki aims to reshape the entire right side of the political scene, treating Kaczyński, Sławomir Mentzen, Krzysztof Bosak, and Grzegorz Braun as pawns in his larger game.

The Zełenski Order controversy

Nawrocki's proposal to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zełenski of the Order of the White Eagle has drawn significant attention. TOK FM commentators suggest the move allowed Nawrocki to speak directly to a segment of the electorate increasingly skeptical of relations with Kyiv, noting that anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland is stronger than official declarations suggest. "Rzeczpospolita" adds that Nawrocki is escalating a conflict over UPA memorialization that Lech Kaczyński had deliberately sought to calm.

Legislative record and PiS weakness

During his first year, Nawrocki signed 211 bills into law and vetoed 33. He submitted 20 legislative projects to the Sejm, 19 of which were sent to the parliamentary "freezer." Despite his victory, PiS has not gained momentum. "Rzeczpospolita" reports the party is at its weakest in decades, mired in internal disputes and shifting further right into territory already occupied by Konfederacja. The article notes that neither Jarosław Kaczyński understood why Nawrocki won, nor Donald Tusk grasped why Rafał Trzaskowski lost.

Demographic support base

According to IBRiS data, Nawrocki's strongest support comes from the youngest voters aged 18-29 (33%), rural residents (28%), those from small towns up to 50,000 inhabitants (25%), people with only primary education (26%), and those who get their news primarily from social media like Instagram and TikTok (28%). Among right-wing voters, only 35% consider Nawrocki a good president, compared to 40% for Lech Kaczyński and 13% for Aleksander Kwaśniewski.