Prague, Feb 15 (CTK) – The proportion of Czechs not supporting the acceptance of refugees from the countries afflicted by war conflicts rose to two-thirds by January, according to a poll conducted by the CVVM polling institute and released on Monday.
Three months ago, one-half of Czechs were against the idea.
In Poland, 53 percent of the population were against the refugees in January.
In Hungary, it was 32 percent, but its poll was conducted last October.
Along with the growing negative attitudes, the number of those agreeing with the refugees’ acceptance until they are able to return to their country of origin has been falling. In January, this was approved of by 28 percent of Czechs, while the figure stood at about 40 percent in September.
Czechs have an enormous interest in the latest developments in migration, the poll has found.
It was expressed by 78 percent, the highest figure out of all major events within the European reach in the past decade.
Roughly the same number are interested in the events relating to Islamic State (70 percent), while interest in Ukraine was expressed by 43 percent.
In May 2014, interest in the election to the European Parliament was expressed by 28 percent of Czechs.
The Czech public considers the refugees primarily a major security threat to Europe (91 percent), the whole world (83 percent) and the Czech Republic (81 percent).
In this respect, the Czechs’ attitudes have not much changed as against last December.
However, the Czechs’ views differ when it comes to the refugees’ countries of origin.
Four out of five Czechs are against the acceptance of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, while only one half of them are against those from Ukraine. Some 26 percent of Czechs are ready to accept the latter.
Poles are more open to the acceptance of refugees than Czechs as 63 percent of them are against Middle East and North African refugees. Some 48 percent of Poles are ready to accept refugees from Ukraine.
The poll was conducted on a sample of 1,047 Czechs over 15 between January 11 and 18.
