Poll: Media to strongly influence presidential race

Prague, Oct 16 (CTK) - Some 63 percent of Czechs are of the view that media will have a large influence on the public's participation and selection of the candidates in the presidential elections, according to a poll conducted by the polling institute STEM and released yesterday.

On the other hand, people believe that the influence of various polls on whether some candidates can be elected is minimal.

Some 13 percent are of the opinion that the media will have the decisive influence on the decisions on the election.

One half of Czechs attribute a "very strong influence" to the media.

One-tenth of Czechs believe that the media will play little, if any role.

The influence ascribed to the results of polls is considerably smaller.

Only every fourth Czech is of the view that the results will have a strong influence on the decisions. Three-quarters believe that the influence will be partial, if any.

People ready to go to the polling stations tend to ascribe the influence to the media more often than the rest.

"The differences are likely to be given by the differing interests of potential voters and those who will not vote in the information," STEM said.

The view that the media is paying the biggest attention to presidential candidate Jan Fischer is held by 57 percent of Czechs. He is followed by Milos Zeman with 52 percent, Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09), Jiri Dienstbier (Social Democrats) and Premysl Sobotka (Civic Democratic Party, ODS).

The first Czech direct presidential election is scheduled for January 11-12, 2013.

Fischer and Zeman are its biggest favourites.

The poll was conducted on a sample of 1,061 Czechs on September 24-October 2.