Citizen´s attitudes towards Migration and Climate
A core part of the RevivEU project is the research of citizens´ attitudes and opinion on the core four topics of the project. While we strive to find these out continuously, during all of our activities, in order to better prepare the events in the later stages of the project we started the project with research on what the citizens of the V4 countries think about the EU, migration and climate.
We decided to do this mainly via a format called citizens´ consultations. The project partners prepared a set of questions on the 3 topics, deciding to keep them the same in all 4 countries to ensure the ability to compare the results later on. And, with the help of trained interviewers, we approached citizens in all 4 countries for one-on-one structured interviews where the participants answered the pre-prepared questions and then asked questions of their own and provided additional feedback. In total, we met with 1394 participants across the 4 countries in person and gathered their inputs. To ensure even more representative results, we supported this research by a computer assisted survey, asking additional 1600 citizens similar questions.
Read about the major findings from each of the countries below and find more about the participant data in the reports section.
Slovakia
First phase of the Slovak citizens´ consultations brought intriguing answers that confirmed findings of previous research confirming widespread dissatisfaction, frustration, and anger of the Slovak population. Unlike in the past when Slovak society was polarized and divided into two camps, RevivEU survey, conducted in the form of public consultations of citizens, showed dissatisfaction of most people in Slovakia with their national government, EU, and life in general.
The consultations bring a picture of a country that is deeply dissatisfied, frustrated, and derailed from the standards they have been used to. As many as 87 percent of people declare that the country’s economic situation is bad, and 82 percent of people believe that the country is going in the wrong direction. The country displays features of fear of the future and expects only the worst about the future. At the same time, the survey suggests that as many as 72 percent of people in Slovakia believe that their children will be worse off in comparison with their life.
Poland
Poles think their country is going in the wrong direction but remain strongly pro-European and plan to vote in the upcoming European Parliament elections.
The consultations brought interesting answers that confirmed findings of previous research confirming widespread polarization of Polish population, and deep anger of the opposition supporters. Very intriguing finding were four attitudes that influence attitudes towards migrants: 1. A positive assessment of ties with the EU influences a positive assessment of the phenomenon of migration in the cultural and economic aspect. 2. Along with the increase in wealth, the positive assessment of the economic and cultural contribution of migrants increases. 3. Liberal attitudes influence positive attitudes towards migration. 4. It should be noted that economic views do not affect the assessment of migrants, as well as the generalized sense of optimism/openness of the respondents.
Hungary
The overwhelming majority of Hungarian society has a strong European identity and would vote to remain in the event of a referendum. Beyond this, they want to increase the EU’s influence in the world and feel that in many areas the EU is better placed to tackle problems than nation states individually. At the same time, however, they are critical of the EU’s performance in recent crisis processes and sees the EU as a medium rather than a heavyweight player in world politics.
The majority of Hungarian society has strong reservations about immigration, both in economic and cultural terms. There is a marked distinction between immigrant groups, but even immigrants from neighbouring or Western European countries, which are considered culturally close, are given rather cool, moderate ratings. The Ukrainian refugee issue, where the (narrow) majority of society takes a more permissive stance, is a somewhat more nuanced picture.
Overall, the Hungarian population sees climate change as a fact, and is not really sceptical about the fact that people are largely responsible for the consequences.
Czechia
Czechs would vote to remain in the EU, support help towards Ukrainian immigrants nad accept that climate change is a man-made problem.
Most of the Czech respondents feel European, and in case of a referendum on the exit from the EU, they would vote for staying. Only 19%, however, are in favour of accepting the common currency euro. In general, they have a good knowledge of EU-related facts, but we can say that the EU optimists are younger, richer, and more educated. Regarding the benefits of the EU, most stress the freedom to travel, work and study, though that must be countered by the fact that first, they have to have means to do so, as well as peace and security. All in all, only a minority supports more competencies for and integration of the EU. Find out more in the presentation of results.
