Regardless of political affiliation, age, social class and income, a large percentage of Greeks agree that, of all basic goods (even health care), education should be the exclusive responsibility of the state. This is followed by other social benefits such as health, pensions, water, electricity, etc.
The nationwide opinion poll was conducted by Eteron, the Social Policy Research Institute. It explored citizens’ perceptions of the country’s economy, social justice, ideology, values, and how the pandemic has changed the way people view life, according to ethnos.gr.
The survey was conducted in December 2021 by aboutpeople, 1659 people took part in the sample (1220 online and 429 by phone). The scientific supervisor of the study is Gerasimos Moshonas, professor at Panteion University. The study is part of a new Eteron project “Οικονομική Δικαιοσύνη: Ένα Νέο Παράδειγμα”.
According to the study, the biggest supporters of public education are people aged 33-44 (93%), the working class (95%) and people from the periphery (90.9%).
As for the category of people, based on their political views, the center-left is also mainly in favor of public education (95%). They are followed by those who belong to the left (93%), center (88.7%), center-right (88.4%) and right-wing (85.5%).
Research results
According to the results of the study, the main goods and services that should be mainly under the jurisdiction of the state are:
education (90.2%), healthcare (87.8%), pensions (86.1%), water supply (84.2%), energy (69.5%), transport (69.2%), banking system (51.6%), air transport (38%), mobile communications (35.8%).
The key word, the researchers report, is “mainly,” and citizens’ responses show that, although they are in favor of a market economy, they still believe that a number of basic goods and services should be the responsibility of the state. This is also evidenced by the fact that in terms of education, 49.2% agree with the creation of non-state universities, and 46.7% disagree.
As Eteron director Gabriel Sakellaridis emphasizes on the occasion of the release of the survey analyzes, “the purpose of the study is to capture the opinions of citizens and their beliefs. We seek to shed light on reality.”
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