Less than half of those surveyed in the poll in Germany, the EU’s top financial provider, said they approved of Ms Von der Leyen, despite the bloc having already crowned her Mr Juncker’s successor. Woman’s lifestyle publication Neue Post asked their readers for their thoughts on an array of female politicians. The poll asked: “Please indicate in each case how likeable the respective politician is for you.”

Ms Von der Leyen came out third from the bottom of the list of 10 politicians, with a likability rating of just 49 percent.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel got 71 percent but her future replacement, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, received just 27 percent.

Others on the list were Malu Dreyer with 68 percent, Annalena Baerbock with 59 percent and Franziska Giffey with the same figure, Katrin Goering-Eckardt with 51 percent of the votes, Sahra Wagenknecht with 50 percent and Julia Klöckner with 34 percent.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is the German minister for defence and succeeded Mrs Merkel in her current position.

The poll was conducted in the most recent issue of the publication, and saw 505 women over the age of 18 asked the question.

The manner in which Ms Von der Leyen was selected to take over the role from Mr Juncker has sparked huge controversy.

The process is called Spitzenkandidat, meaning ‘lead candidate’ in German.

The process is the method of linking European Parliament elections by having each major political group in Parliament nominating their candidate for Commission President prior to the Parliamentary elections.

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The Spitzenkandidat of the largest party would then have a mandate to assume the Commission Presidency.

The process was first trialled with Mr Juncker in 2014, and subsequently condemned by French President Emmanuel Macron.

He attempted to block the succession and was accused of being “anti-German” for doing so.

Ms Von der Leyen has wasted no time digging her heels in over Brexit, despite not actually being in her new role until November.

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