Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his ruling Civic Platform (PO) party have been taking a hammering in the polls recently.

A February TNS OBOP survey indicates that 70 percent of Poles now disapprove of the way the government is running the country while only 23 percent think it is doing a good job.

Meanwhile, Mr Tusk himself has a job-approval rating of just 28 percent, the lowest since he arrived in office.

The government has been strongly criticized in the media for the confusion surrounding a prescription-drug reform implemented in January this year, for initially supporting the highly-unpopular ACTA treaty and for controversy regarding the newly-built zł.2 billion National Stadium, which is said to fall short of the required standard in several respects.

The PM's proposal to increase the retirement age to 67 for both men and women has understandably not won him many friends either.

Mediocre competition

In a competitive political environment, the ruling party's slip-ups would have caused it to lose a considerable amount of ground to its rivals. But Poland's political scene is far from competitive.

Even though many have started to lose faith in PO, they are by no means turning to the biggest opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), which is simply too conservative, too nationalistic and too aesthetically unpalatable for the majority of Poles.

According to recent voter surveys, a few Poles seem to be turning to the other parliamentary opposition parties, namely the leftist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and Palikot's Movement (RP).

But those parties are likewise incapable of wooing over anything close to a majority of voters.

SLD, which ruled Poland between 2001-2005 is mainly remembered for the corruption scandals which plagued the country during its time in office. The party has not managed to recover since then and is still not considered trustworthy and credible by most Poles.

RP, meanwhile, is led by the often irritating, narcissistic Janusz Palikot, who, while supported by some 12-15 percent of Poles, has the largest negative electorate (45 percent) after PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński.

Mr Palikot is a nihilist, ready to say or do anything just to be at the center of attention, and most Poles simply don't take him very seriously.

RP's mix of very socially and economically liberal views are also unlikely to attract a huge number of Poles.

A monopoly

All this means that despite all the disappointment and frustration many Poles feel with PO, they simply don't see any alternative to the current ruling party and its leader Donald Tusk.

What's worse, PO politicians are perfectly aware of this and thus the criticism they are currently receiving is unlikely to make them step up their game as it would if they had serious political rivals. Only the PM himself is capable of jolting his ministers into better performances.

Journalists and political observers can criticize, lament and lambaste all they want but the truth of the matter is that in the end, PO can still turn around and say “Ok, we're useless, but so what?” And honestly speaking, it's difficult to respond to that.