Political

The problems most often considered by respondents to be the major ones are as follows: unemployment, economic or general crime, corruption, state indebtedness and the reform of public funds, permanent quarrels among politicians, unstable government and the ongoing political crisis, problems in the health sector, politicians’ unconcern for ordinary people and poor work of the police and courts in the enforcement of law.

Surveys conducted by the Public Opinion Research Centre regularly examine which recent events are regarded by respondents as major ones. As regards specific events, the respondents most frequently mentioned the election to the European Parliament and accession of our country to the European Union. They also considered other events occurring in the local political scene to be important, in particular the resignation of Vladimir Špidla from the post of prime minister, the subsequent fall of the government, crisis in the CSSD and the election of Stanislav Gross as its new leader.

More than a half of the citizens (56 %) agree with accepting the Euro as the currency of the Czech Republic, on the other hand one third (35 %) is against. Support for introducing the Euro clearly decreases with older age and lower standards of living. The introduction of the Euro is very often supported by students, but relatively more frequently its introduction is approved by university graduates, managers or highly qualified professional workers and Civic Democratic Party (ODS) supporters.

For several months already Czech citizens have been expressing the highest level of confidence in the president of our country. In June survey he was regarded as trustworthy by almost three quarters of the respondents. A drop in the public’s confidence concerned according to our survey mainly the Czech government, now trusted by only a quarter of Czech citizens. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are regarded by the inhabitants of our country as even slightly less trustworthy.

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 63% of those surveyed having the right to vote (‘definitely yes’ by 32% and ‘probably yes’ by 31%), while 30% said no (15% ‘probably not’ and 15% ‘definitely not’) and 7% did not know.

Three quarters of the Czech population (76%) hold the opinion that in terms of foreign policy the USA accentuates its own power and economic interests; almost two thirds (64%) believe that the USA does not care about what the world community thinks, and two fifths (42%) are of the opinion that the current foreign policy of the USA poses a threat for the world today. The Czech society is also deeply ambivalent about whether the foreign policy of the United States strives for stability and a peaceful world – 47% of citizens think so, while 44% are persuaded to the contrary.

In May survey, the Public Opinion Research Centre investigated whether the respondents confide in selected constitutional bodies. This time the submitted list included the names of 21 politicians (all members of the government, president, ombudsman, chairmen of Senate and Chamber of Deputies).

Now it is president Václav Klaus, who is viewed as the most trustworthy person among our top politicians. He enjoys confidence of seven out of ten respondents.

For several months already Czech citizens have been expressing the highest level of confidence in the president of our country. Czech government now enjoys the confidence of more than a third of the citizens and the Chamber of Deputies is trusted by more than a quarter of the respondents. According to them the Senate is currently the least trustworthy institution, trusted by only 23 % of the inhabitants.

In the May survey of the Public Opinion Research Centre implemented within the project “Our Society 2004”, we asked respondents if they trusted selected international institutions.

From the institutions offered, the United Nations and the European Union were the most trustworthy (both trusted by 64 % of citizens). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) registered the lowest share of trusting respondents, however more than a half of citizens do not know this institution, or they cannot give their opinions on it.

When choosing whom to vote for in the European election, the electorate is going to attach more importance to opinions on problems in the Czech Republic than to the party or personality of candidates.

The vast majority of those who are going to vote – 8 out of 10 – are persuaded that the party of their choice will get into the European Parliament. 10% of those polled were of the opinion that the party of their choice will not sit in the European Parliament, and the same percentage did not know.