Bitcoin reserve proponent Sławomir Mentzen ticks up in polls ahead of Poland’s presidential election

The candidate suggesting Poland should set up its own Bitcoin reserve has been rising in polls ahead of the EU nation’s presidential vote in May. Over the past weeks, since he vowed to turn Poland into a crypto haven, Sławomir Mentzen has moved closer to participating in a likely run-off in June.

The nationalist candidate is most popular among young Poles who often flock to his rallies. Observers say this is largely due to his quite active presence on social media. Mentzen has been also attracting followers with a program that draws inspiration from U.S. President Donald Trump’s political messages.

Mentzen approaches run-off territory in recent Polish polls

Polish voters will be going to the ballot boxes on May 18 to elect their new president this year. The incumbent, Andrzej Duda, is nearing the end of his second and last five-year term in office and won’t be able to run again under the country’s constitution.

While none of the leading candidates is expected to win in the first round, Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, nominated by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s center-right, liberal-conservative Civic Platform (PO) party is the clear front-runner.

Second in opinion polls is historian Karol Nawrocki, head of the Institute of National Remembrance, who is backed by President Duda’s right-wing, national-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) party. His place in the potential second round on June 1 is now challenged by Sławomir Mentzen.

The latter is the candidate of the far-right political alliance Confederation Liberty and Independence (Konfederacja). He launched his campaign at the end of August, earlier than his competitors, and has been narrowing the gap between him and the mainstream leaders.

Mentzen is still third in the race but a survey conducted by the Polish research company Opinia24 in mid-March showed him with 18.9%, less than a percentage point behind Nawrocki at 19.5%. Trzaskowski is well ahead of both with the support of 32% of the respondents, although that’s not enough for a first round win.

The results were published by RMF24 which ordered the poll. The Polish news outlet highlighted Sławomir Mentzen’s continuous gain over the past few months. He has added 2 percentage points since February and is 8 points above his December score.

Pro-crypto presidential candidate leads among young voters

Polling numbers quoted by Politico are also registering Mentzen’s ascend throughout the race but pointing to a larger difference between him and Nawrocki. RMF24 noted, however, that Opinia24’s pre-election forecast for the 2023 parliamentary vote, when Mentzen won a seat in the Polish Sejm , was credited as the most accurate.

Young Poles is the segment where Mentzen confidently leads, according to Opinia. Some 46% of those aged 18 to 29 have declared their intention to vote for Konfederacja’s 38-year-old candidate. He is also ranked first by Polish citizens in the 30-39 bracket and has a slight advantage over Trzaskowski among male voters.

Sławomir Mentzen has been relying heavily on popular platforms like Tiktok and X as well as Youtube to convey his views, a mix of conservative, nationalistic and libertarian ideas. He “has made social media his home,” the European political news website Euractiv pointed out in a recent article.

His election program titled “Strong Rich Poland” abounds with political messages mirroring Donald Trump’s campaign promises such as ensuring “tight borders,” providing “defense of free speech,” “reducing bureaucracy,” and introducing “low and simple taxes.” He insists “Poland needs a strong army” but says “No to Polish troops in Ukraine.”

A full paragraph in his 20-point platform is dedicated to crypto. The Polish state fights it because it can’t control it, Mentzen says, vowing “to strive to free up cryptocurrency trading” and “ensure Poland has the most crypto-friendly law in the entire European Union.” In a post on X in November, he also embraced Trump’s bitcoin reserve initiative.

Sławomir Mentzen holds a degree in physics and a PhD in economics after defending a doctoral thesis on public debt at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in his hometown of Toruń. Besides politics, he has been involved in business as well, having owned a law firm and a beer brand.

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