ATOZ Survey 2023: What is the profile of the "ideal candidate”? Luxembourg citizens and their expectations of politicians.

For the eighth time, ATOZ has commissioned a public survey. Each year’s survey explores a different theme, always focusing on Luxembourg trends. As industry thought-leaders, we believe it is key for us to keep on top of market trends, continuously gaining a deeper understanding of our local environment.

We don’t drive opinion or push an agenda; we simply hope that the results of these surveys contribute to a larger discussion between different country stakeholders, give new insights into our local landscape and give additional input into the debates taking place throughout the population.

As a reminder, in the past, we’ve looked at what Luxembourg professionals and individuals think about taxes (2015), how the surrounding population in the Greater Region views Luxembourg (2016), how Luxembourg residents feel about money and wealth (2017), how the so-called “millennial generation” perceives private business and entrepreneurship (2018), the Luxembourg population’s views on climate change (2019), and, with the COVID-19 pandemic to of mind at the time, societal challenges and the role of the Luxembourg state (2020). Most recently, in 2021, we took the opportunity to look at the lessons the Luxembourg population learnt – or not – as we started to live our “new normal” in the midst of the pandemic. To answer this particular question, we included a selection of questions from our past surveys to ask once again, enabling us to see how, if at all, attitudes had changed or evolved over the past years and, in particular, after having experienced such an unprecedented situation over the first 18 months of the pandemic. 

This year, with 2023 being an election year – municipal in June and general in October – we have chosen to deep dive into the population’s expectations when it comes to the politicians that they would want representing them.

Which of their fundamental beliefs would the general population need to see the most aligned with the political candidates? What personality traits, characteristics and leadership methods do they look for in individuals guiding the country? And which do they absolutely not tolerate? How do respondents feel about politicians needing to make potentially difficult decisions that may go against the population’s egoistical desires if they were considered to be for the greater good of society? Where does the line between an elected person’s personal and public lives blur, if, in fact, it does at all? 

With election campaigns fully underway, this survey aims to paint a picture, according to Luxembourg residents, of the “ideal political candidate”, and to draw on trends that we see emerge within the population with regards to the ideal profile for the job. 

This report is a summary of the results but also should be read as our interpretation, with an inevitable element of subjectivity. The results of the survey are made freely available to interested parties, so others are free to draw their own conclusions, thus contributing to a healthy debate on this particular topic.