The June survey conducted by the Public Opinion Research Center of the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v. v. i. on the Our Society Panel included an extensive battery of fifteen pairs of statements representing opposing economic and political views. Respondents were asked to rate on a five-point scale which of the two statements was closer to their opinion.
The greatest degree of agreement among the Czech public is on issues of civil liberties. On average, four-fifths (80%) of the public support the expansion of freedoms rather than their restriction by the state.
A significant majority of society also agrees that the state should leave the decision on abortion to the woman herself (84%) and that homosexual men and women should have the same rights as others (71%).
Opinions on economic issues vary significantly depending on where people place themselves on the left-right spectrum: those on the left are more likely to support an active role for the state and social security, while those on the right place greater emphasis on individual responsibility and private property.
Cultural and value issues (abortion, homosexuality) differ significantly between conservative and liberal citizens, with support for individual freedom being significantly higher among those with liberal views.
The Czech public is less divided on environmental issues, but in general, citizens with liberal views consider environmental protection to be a higher priority than those with conservative views.
For a better understanding of the context of this press release, we recommend reading previous press releases on the topic of respondents' self-classification on political orientation scales and the press release on what the Czech public understands political scales to be.
Due to a change in the CVVM survey methodology, the results of the present survey are not directly comparable to the results of previous surveys. More information about the new methodology can be found in this press release.
>> Fulltext is available in Czech only <<
- Download the full press release here: po260206.pdf
- All reports from this survey: PNS_2506
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