Rotterdam, Amsterdam mayors most popular; Wilders least loved

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb (PvdA) and Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan (PvdA) are the most popular politicians in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders (PVV) received the least love and ended up on the bottom of the list as the least popular politician in the Netherlands. This is according to a survey done by Kieskompas among more than 11 thousand respondents. Aboutaleb, previously also named Dutchman of the Year by Elsevier, is by far the most popular politician in the Netherlands with an average score of 7.49. More than a quarter of respondents gave Aboutaleb an 8 and 20 percent even gave him a 9. Aboutaleb is not only loved by his own party, but also VVD'ers and PVV'ers appreciate the outspoken, Moroccan-born son of a imam. Here follows a list of politicians ranked by popularity with their average scores:

1. Ahmed Aboutaleb, mayor of Rotterdam, PvdA - 7.49
2. Eberhard van der Laan, mayor of Amsterdam, PvdA - 7.01
3. Bram van Ojik, GroenLinks faction leader - 6.83
4. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Minister of Finance, PvdA - 6.83
5. Lodewijk Asscher, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs, PvdA - 6.33
6. Alexander Pechtold, D66 faction leader - 5.93
7. Edith Schippers, Minister of Public Health, Welfare and Sports, VVD - 5.43
8. Sybrand Buma, CDA faction leader - 5.35
9. Mark Rutte - Prime Minister, VVD - 5.18
10. Diederik Samsom, PvdA faction leader - 4.53
11. Ivo Opstelten, former Minister of Security and Justice, VVD - 3.77
12. Geert Wilders, PVV faction leader - 2.96

It is very surprising that Geert Wilders ended up at the bottom of the list with a score of less than 3, while the PVV came out on top in most of the major polls. André Krouwel of Kieskompas could not give an explanation for this remarkable turn of events, but he did say that the figures "are not entirely representative", Elsevier reports. Highly educated people were better represented in the panel than older people and people with a lower education. Another notable point is that Diederik Samsom, PvdA faction leader, is the lowest ranking PvdA member on the list. His score of 4.53 is almost half of the 7.49 that fellow PvdA member Mayor Aboutaleb scored. PvdA voters gave higher scores to politicians from GroenLinks and D66 than to their own faction leader. "Samsom has lost a lot of credit", according to Krouwel. "If you are the leader, but everyone else is seen as more capable and gets more appreciation, you have a problem."