Eighty percent of Hungarians are at least a little proud to be citizens of the European Union, but only one-third of them are very proud of this fact, a recent poll found. On the contrary, when it comes to national identity, more than half of respondents answered that they are very proud of being Hungarian.
Rtl.hu commissioned the Závecz Research Insitute to conduct a survey on the feelings of Hungarians regarding their national and EU identities. The Institute asked 1000 people aged 18 or over in a representative poll between 2 and 10 May.
They found that overall, respondents were proud of both their Hungarian and their European identity, a statement that does not change significantly even when party preferences are taken into account.
The majority of Hungarians are proud of their national identity
The Závecz Research Institute asked the 1000 respondents to answer the question
“How proud are you of being Hungarian?”
The possible answers were: very, a little, not at all, and did not answer/does not know.
Survey results show that 60 percent of Hungarians are very proud of being from the country. The most positive responses came from Fidesz-KDNP voters, of whom 74 percent were very and 23 percent a little proud of their Hungarian identity, adding up to a total of 97 percent of people who are happy to be nationals.
Similar figures can be observed among voters of opposition parties as well as among those who are not affiliated with any parties. Among these groups, roughly 45-60 percent were very proud of their Hungarian identity, and 25-45 percent were a little proud. Slightly higher among them, around 10 percent, were those who said they were not at all proud of being Hungarian.
Hungarians are proud to be citizens of the European Union
The other question of the survey, with the same possible answers (very much, a little, not at all, did not answer/does not know) was
“How proud are you of being a citizen of the European Union?”
Overall, 32 percent of those asked said they were very proud and 48 percent said they were a little proud to be EU citizens. However, 15 percent of all respondents were not at all proud to be European.
The DK-MSZP-Dialogue coalition voters were the most pleased about their European identity, with 48 percent very proud of being EU citizens and 44 percent a little proud.
The two most critical camps were Fidesz-KDNP supporters and those without a party, with only a quarter of both saying they were very proud to be European and 50-50 percent, respectively, saying they were only a little proud of this fact. Nonetheless, those proud to be citizens of the European Union still constituted a majority (75 percent in both cases) of these groups.
It is also true, however, that voters of the governing parties had the largest proportion of those who are not proud to be citizens of the European Union: 21 percent of Fidesz-KDNP voters answered “not at all” when asked by Závecz Research researchers.
Overall, the largest proportion, 26 percent, of respondents were very proud of being Hungarian, and a little bit proud of being European. The second largest group (24 percent) includes those who were very proud of both identities.
11 percent of Hungarians were prouder of being citizens of the European Union than of their national identities, while 12 percent were very proud Hungarians but not at all proud Europeans. The former were mostly found among opposition voters, while the latter was more typical for Fidesz-KDNP supporters.
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The breakdown on age / gender would be REALLY interesting.
Re being Hungarian in the EU … Expect questions, almost without exception, regarding our domestic political situation in any social or business setting. Oh joy. I always roll out the “political stability” argument…
Interesting, and not SURPRISED.
Norbert makes a VALID point.
Is there a “FLICKERING” of light – of SENSABILITY – that if we Hungary are to HAVE a Future, it must be as a Member of the European Union.
People at least somewhat know what’s good for them despite Viktor Orban comparing the EU to the Soviet Union. Orban’s still works on Hungarian public opinion night and day to make everyone dislike the EU and love Russia.
Orban – his DISTILLATION, selling us off, insulting us, embarrassing us, sending millions of Hungarians, into lives of hardship, with no hope – no future, but DRIVING us to be in relationship and partnership with Communist – China and Russia – APPALING.
WHAT has Orban – his Fidesz Government – DELIVERED us – individually, as a country to, after 14 years in POWER – in Government ???
We are a cataclysmic MESS – in every direction you look, in the operation, the functionality of a country.
Horrendous now and will WORSEN.
Good point Norbert. Ironically many young Hungarians likely never made it into that survey because they already voted with their feet and left the country. “Go West young man.” Orban hysterically would tell Hungarians “Go East young man” treating us as complete idiots.
Too bad the so-called leaders of the EU can’t respect the only country fighting for peace and liberty. These evil power-hungry tyrants are once again bringing Europe into war.
The Institute asked 1000 people….. I don’t even know one person who was asked these questions.
These polls are not representative of what is living among the population. A good propaganda tool, though.