It's really more shocking to the media, who essentially ignored the guy because he was always trailing in polls. They all had him at 5% and then he suddenly shot up to 16% in exit polls and 23% in actual votes.

The running theory is that the main party artificially boosted him through their votes to have an easier go in round 2 ( "vote for our candidate, not the extremist" ) and it backfired because they underestimated tiktoks ability to brainwash people.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Polls in many European countries seem to be off. Some people are afraid to speak freely, it seems. That's a sad development.

[–] absquatulate@lemmy.world 6 points 19 hours ago

Polling agencies in this country are simply opinion manufacturers. In any other country it would be unacceptable to have no less than 5 candidates off by more than 6% each in EXIT POLLS.