BAROMETER Informat.ro - INSCOP Research: Population's expectations regarding Romania's foreign policy during President Nicușor Dan's mandate

According to BAROMETER Informat.ro - INSCOP Research conducted between May 26-30, 2025, more than half of Romanians expect the way Romania is represented abroad to improve after the election of Nicușor Dan as President of the country.

The Informat.ro - INSCOP Research BAROMETER is a monthly opinion poll conducted by INSCOP Research commissioned by the news platform Informat.ro in partnership with the think-tank Strategic Thinking Group.

BAROMETER Informat.ro - INSCOP Research aims to bring to public attention topics of interest in order to stimulate national conversations on various topics and public policies essential for Romania's present and future based on the opinion of Romanians in partnership with prestigious think tanks and academic institutions. It is an approach through which we aim to contribute to the consolidation of democracy through the use of scientific and credible tools that bring the voice of citizens to the forefront of public debate.

Methodology: The data was collected between May 26-30, 2025. Research method: questionnaire interview. Data were collected using the CATI method (telephone interviews), the simple stratified sample size was 1150 persons, representative by significant socio-demographic categories (sex, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 years and over. The maximum permissible error of the data is ± 2.9% at 95% confidence level.

Remus Ștefureac - Director INSCOP Research: "The vast majority of Romanians (more than two thirds) have a balanced and wise vision of the new President Nicușor Dan's foreign policy priorities, considering that both the strengthening of the relationship with the US and a more active role of Romania in the EU are equally important. The population understands the value of the strategic partnership with the US, as well as the need for Romania to be more present and more active in the European Union, obviously promoting its specific interests. From this point of view, the people's mandate for the newly elected president is very clear and the next few months will be decisive in sending out the right signals from the Cotroceni on both sides of the Atlantic. This does not only mean declarations of intent, but also well-prepared teams both in the Cotroceni Palace and in the Victoria Palace, made up of people loyal to Romania's interests, credible in the eyes of the new US administration, credible at European level, and above all, facts translated into concrete economic and security policies and projects. It is remarkable that the majority of the population expects an improvement in the way Romania is represented abroad after the election of Nicușor Dan as president of the country."

Principal foreign policy priority of the new president, Nicușor Dan

Asked what should be the main foreign policy priority of the new president, 16% indicate a more active role within the EU, 12.3% a strengthening of the relationship with the U.S. 66.8% say that both priorities are equally important. The share of non-answers is 4.8%.

NLPN, USR and PSD voters, women, people over 60, those with secondary or higher education and state employees are more likely than average to think that both priorities are equally important. They consider, in higher than average proportions, that the new President's main foreign policy priority should be a more active role in the EU in particular: USR voters and 18-45 year olds. AUR voters and Bucharest residents most believe that strengthening the relationship with the US should be the new President's main foreign policy priority.

Population's expectations on Romania's foreign policy during President Nicușor Dan's term in office

After Nicușor Dan's election as President of the country, 51.3% of Romanians expect the way Romania is represented abroad to improve, 18.9% expect it to stay the same, and 27.1% expect it to get worse. 2.7% do not know or do not answer this question.

More than average people expect Romania's external representation to improve, especially: PNL, USR and PSD voters, people over 45, those with higher education and residents of Bucharest or small urban areas, state employees. Young people under the age of 30 and private employees are the categories of the population that most expect the way Romania is represented abroad to remain the same. They are more pessimistic than the average about Romania's external representation in particular: AUR voters, people under 45, those with primary education, rural dwellers and Tik-Tok users.

Graphical presentation of the data is available at: https://www.inscop.ro/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/11.06.2025-BAROMETRUL-Informat.ro-INSCOP-Asteptari-privind-politica-externa.pdf