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.

Almost 60 % of respondents think that the ideal age for a father at the birth of his first child should range from 25 to 29 years of age. A third of the people approached gave the age over 29 and less than 9 % the age under 25. For judging the ideal age of a mother there is a prevailing opinion (51 % of respondents) that a woman should give birth to her first child before 24 years of age. 44 % of respondents stated the age range between 25 and 29 and only less than 5 % consider the age of 30 or more to be the best for the birth of the first child.

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.

The May census of the CPOR was performed about three weeks after the Czech Republic joined the European Union. In the census we were interested in what people understand about the impact. As far as the standard of living is concerned, less than a half of Czechs (45%) do not expect any change, almost a third of respondents (32%) are however concerned with is decline. On the other hand, approximately one seventh (14%) of Czech citizens are optimistic about an increase in their standard of living in connection with the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU.

Positive expectations in connection with the Czech Republic’s accession to the EU prevail only for the category of the available range of goods and services in our market when three fifths (61%) expect a positive impact, one quarter (26%) do not expect either negative or positive impact and only 7% suspect a decline. A relatively positive expectation of the impact was recorded also for science and research, where respondents expect the positive impact (38%) clearly more often than the negative one (8%) and also the neutral one (29%).

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.

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 (in %).

The question ‘Imagine that an election to the Chamber of Deputies is held next week.

All respondents eligible to vote were asked a closed question about which political party they are going to vote for in the European Parliament election. The respondents were shown complete candidate lists of all parties. The total structure of the answers given is summarised in the table.

In May 2004, 63% of Czech citizens expressed willingness to participate in the election to the European Parliament.