With the European Parliament election less than six months away — and with it, a major reshuffle of who is in charge of the EU's institutions and hot topic issues — election campaigners have their work cut out for them.
Not only do voters across the Continent disagree about what issues should drive the debate ahead of next May's Europe-wide ballot, large shares of the EU's population don't trust the institutions tasked with drafting and implementing the changes they want, reports Politico.
One thing voters do share is a concern that the European election is vulnerable to outside interference — with many saying Europe's leaders are doing too little to address the risks.
Here's a breakdown of what Europe's voters are concerned about ahead of the election.
In most member countries, migration makes it into the top three of issues that respondents feel should be debated ahead of the European election.
Overall, fewer citizens think they will be worse off in five years' time, when the next European Parliament's term ends. But only a minority thinks their lives will be better — in most countries, voters expect stagnation.
That skepticism isn’t limited to a critical view of the EU’s overall trajectory. Many also aren’t optimistic about their own country’s democratic system.
When it comes to trust in democratic institutions — whether those are EU or national institutions — there is a clear regional pattern: The bloc's north-west favors its own institutions over those of the EU, whereas the bloc's south-east distrusts its own democratic system more than it does the EU.
In Bulgaria, Spain and Croatia, more than half of the respondents did not think their country is doing all it can to prevent electoral fraud. In Scandinavian countries, that share dips below 10%.
Citizens across the EU report they are concerned with the potential for foreign meddling and interference in next year's election.
But they disagree on the source of the interference: While most agree cyberattacks and potential fraud are big risks, concern about "votes being bought or sold" is more prevalent in some countries than others.
Europeans also disagree on the biggest threats the EU will face in the years ahead, despite agreement across the bloc about the risk of further terrorist attacks.
Here too, there are regional differences.
In the EU's north-west, citizens worry about political extremism, while voters in the east are most concerned about migration.
In the south, citizens' concerns tilt toward pollution and natural disasters.
Political stand-offs caused by disagreements between EU member states is never listed as a top concern for voters, but does appear in their top five worries EU-wide.