Our assessment of the public administration effectiveness in tax collection
As regards tax collection from them, citizens consider the existing effectiveness of the public administration to be quite high. In the opinion of 47% of economically active persons, the public administration is ‘very effective’ in the collection of their taxes. 23% consider it ’quite effective’, 9% ‘medium effective’ and only 5% of those polled stated that the public administration is ‘quite’ or ‘totally’ ineffective in respect of tax collection from them.
Opinion of the Public on Certain Issues of the Education System
The standard of education is valued as best at grammar schools (70 % positively, 8 % negatively) and universities (63 % positively, 8 % negatively). Two thirds of respondents also consider elementary schools as having a good standard (66 % positive, 22 % negative opinions) and a slightly smaller number thinks this about secondary schools completed by a school-leaving examination (62 % positive, 18 % negative opinions).
Current Problems of Czech Education System in the Eyes of the Public
The September survey also included a section of questions devoted to issues on the Czech school system. Among other things, the respondents gave their opinions about the issues of equal access to education, grammar schools providing schooling over more than four years, and private secondary schools. Almost two thirds of Czech citizens are worried that many talented children in this country will not be given a chance to study, but 6 out of 10 respondents agree with the statement that only ability and the will to study will decide what education level will be achieved and by whom.
Political parties and selected institutions activities evaluations
In its September survey, the Public Opinion Research Centre asked the respondents the following question: ”How would you evaluate the activity of the following political parties and institutions within the period of the last twelve months? Please use marking system as used in schools, where one is the best and five is the worst mark.” The best results – with an average mark lower than 3 – were achieved by media and the president.
Citizen satisfaction with the current state of some areas in the society
Of all the monitored areas, citizens took the most negative view of the current state of corruption and security. A substantial majority of those polled (two thirds in the event of corruption) voiced their dissatisfaction with these issues. The prevalence of dissatisfaction is also quite noticeable in the assessment of the judicature and the state of the legal environment. A more critical than positive assessment is given to one’s own possibilities to participate in the decision-making process about public affairs and the functioning of authorities.
Confidence in constitutional institutions
In the first half of September the president was regarded as trustworthy by 61%, Czech government by 29%, Chamber of Deputies by 22%, Senate by 21%, regional councils by 36% and local councils by 57% of the polled citizens. The last survey brought – with the exception of the president – a statistically quite significant drop of confidence in all the constitutional institutions. As far as the government is concerned, it is a long-term trend, because within the last 9 months the government has gradually lost 20 % of people, who initially considered it trustworthy.
Satisfaction with the political situation
In September, 14% of those surveyed were satisfied with the political situation, which is a drop by 6 percentage points when compared to June. 29% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, while 52% of respondents were dissatisfied – an increase by 7 percentage points since June. People with good living standards and young people who do not yet have the right to vote more frequently belonged to the group of the satisfied.
Party preferences in September 2003
All respondents having the right to vote were asked an open question (i.e. without a list of political parties being used) investigating which party they would vote for if an election to the Chamber of Deputies took place the following week. The structure of the answers given is summarised in the table. The question ‘Imagine that an election to the Chamber of Deputies is held next week. Would you participate?’ was answered yes by 65% of those surveyed having the right to vote (‘definitely yes’ by 36% and ‘probably yes’ by 29%), while 27% said no (14% ‘probably not’ and 13% ‘definitely not’) and 8% did not know.
Czech Public and the Media
Within the June research we surveyed standpoints of the Czech public towards the media. First of all we were interested in ratings of the main television news programmes. Eight out of ten respondents said that in the previous week they had seen TV Nova news at least once. About three quarters of respondents had watched "Události (Events)" (the main news broadcast of ČT1) at least once. Prima news had been seen at least once by less than a half of Czechs (46%) and ČT2 news by a third (33%).
Assessment of help to others
During last year, we mostly provided help to our families (75% of respondents) and friends (55%). We also supported our acquaintances (39%) and distant relatives (29%). A third of those surveyed helped, during last year, a non-profit organisation or charity, and more than a fifth helped unknown people. Those who stated to have helped a non-profit organisation or charity last year, mentioned mostly some of the flood bank accounts, the Red Cross, Charitas – a catholic charity, the League against cancer, the Man in need organisation, ADRA, Help the children campaign or the Fund for children in danger.
Attitudes to civil activities
The poll revealed, inter alia, that the Czech public considers petitions to be an almost generally acceptable form of protest pressure (only 10% of those polled stated they would never sign a petition), and that the majority is not opposed to boycotts or legal demonstrations. On the other hand, harsher methods of expressing dissatisfaction, such as participation in an unofficial strike, are openly supported by only three persons out of ten, while protests involving occupation of buildings are deemed acceptable by just over one tenth of the population.
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