Who Will Succeed Kaczyński in PiS? Poles Have a Favorite

A new poll reveals that former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is the leading choice to succeed Jarosław Kaczyński as the head of PiS, outperforming other party figures.

Morawiecki Leads Succession Poll

The former prime minister was indicated by 46 percent of respondents. Among Law and Justice voters, Morawiecki was supported by 34 percent of those surveyed. Such results suggest that the former prime minister enjoys greater support outside the hard core of PiS.

Morawiecki is the favorite of Poles after Kaczyński’s departure from PiS.

Czarnek and Szydło Follow in Rankings

Second place in the poll went to the party’s current candidate for prime minister, Przemysław Czarnek, who received 18 percent of the votes of those asked. Czarnek was indicated by 21 percent of respondents declaring support for Law and Justice.

Behind Czarnek was former Prime Minister Beata Szydło, and the difference between these politicians was not large. Szydło could replace Jarosław Kaczyński in PiS according to 15 percent of respondents. Among the party’s voters, 11 percent of respondents indicated her.

Ziobro and Other Candidates

The next position was taken by former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro. 9 percent of respondents and 7 percent of party voters see him as the leader of PiS. According to 12 percent of those asked, someone else should become the leader of Law and Justice. However, another candidate was indicated by only 2 percent of surveyed PiS voters.

Morawiecki is ahead of Czarnek in the polls.

CBOS Trust Ratings for Key Politicians

The latest CBOS poll regarding Poles’ trust in politicians shows that trust in the former prime minister and deputy head of PiS, Mateusz Morawiecki, is declared by 29 percent (a drop of one percentage point), while 50 percent declare a lack of trust (unchanged). Slightly fewer people, 27 percent, trust PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński. Although the percentage of people who do not trust this politician decreased over the last month—a drop of 3 percentage points to 54 percent—he is still the leader of the ranking in this respect, points out CBOS.

PiS Deputy Head Przemysław Czarnek enjoys the trust of 24 percent of respondents, while distrust of him is declared by 51 percent of people. His ratings remained at a similar level over the last month—the group of respondents declaring trust increased by 1 percentage point.

Context of Previous Polls

Let us recall that in connection with friction in the PiS grouping, United Surveys by IBRiS in a poll commissioned by Wirtualna Polska conducted on July 16–17 asked Poles: “Who would be a better PiS candidate for prime minister: Mateusz Morawiecki or Przemysław Czarnek?”. 40.7 percent of respondents indicated Mateusz Morawiecki as the PiS candidate for prime minister, and 18 percent chose Przemysław Czarnek. “I don’t know / hard to say” was answered by as many as 41.3 percent of respondents, as we wrote on Gazeta.pl.

The research by the Pollster Research Institute for “Super Express” was conducted on July 16–17, 2026, using the CAWI method on a sample of 1,021 adult Poles.