1/5 of the Greeks have a positive attitude towards Putin – 18.8%

After the pandemic, the start of the war in Ukraine and other global events, the opinions of Greek citizens on many issues have changed somewhat, as the study of διαΝΕΟσις shows.

The survey was titled “What do the Greeks think”, its first part was presented at the Delphi Economic Forum. The opinions of the Greeks were investigated on a variety of issues. This is the sixth such survey since 2015. Its first stage was held on February 3-18, 2022, with a sample of 1255 people. Then, given the start of the war in Ukraine, five of the total questions were repeated during the second stage on March 10-13, 2022. MARC researchers tried to find out if the opinion of Greek citizens has changed. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of the population aged 17 and over, using telephone and online interviews.

Frustration prevails in society

The dominant emotions in Greek society are far from optimistic moods: uncertainty (28.8%) and disappointment (28.5%). Optimism decreased from 23.4% in 2019 to 13.7% this year. However, this feeling is significantly related to the level of income. The highest level of optimism (27%) was shown by respondents with a monthly income of “more than 3,000 euros per month”, who admitted that optimism is the most common feeling for them.

The biggest threat

Relations between Greece and Turkeyas well as demography (she was put in first place) are perceived by the Greeks as the biggest threat. Then follows economic situation. In 2019, 21.7% of Greeks considered immigration to be the main threat, compared to only 9% this year. The attitude towards the pandemic has also changed. Despite the fact that the number of deaths from coronavirus is still several dozen a day, only 2.2% chose “pandemic diseases” as the main threat to the country.

War in Ukraine is a threat to the planet

For our planet, Greek citizens consider the most important threat “wars and conflicts” – so answered 33.2% of the respondents. The result, it is worth noting, has changed dramatically in the weeks that have passed since the first phase of the survey in February, that is, after the invasion of Ukraine. Then only 13.3% of citizens called wars the biggest threat, and 31.6% considered it as such changing of the climatein third place the respondents put “economic inequality and hardship”.

Characteristics of good and bad

Interesting answers followed on the question of “good and bad people.” Respondents were asked to name eight words that describe an ethnic, religious or any other characteristic of a person that, in their opinion, indicates something “good” or “bad”. By association with “bad” the majority chose the words “Turks” (60.3%), “Muslims” (47.9%), “Germans” (48.4%) and “immigrants” (42.8%). More “good”than “bad” ratings were received by “Americans” (49.3%), “Jews” (46.3%), “refugees” (55.4%) and “Russians” (48.7%).

The choice of the last two characteristics, “refugees” and “Russians”, changed after the start of the war in Ukraine. At the beginning of February 2022, the proportion of respondents who considered “refugees” good was 47.1% (and in 2019 – only 40.6%). The percentage of those who considered Russians “good” was then 58%. Interestingly, this figure also dropped significantly from 77.4% in 2016. The conclusion of the researchers: “For the first time, it has been recorded that a positive predisposition towards Americans, albeit slightly, is higher than a positive predisposition towards Russians.”

Emmanuel Macron is the only one with more upvotes than downvotes

For a number of international figures, public assessments have changed significantly. Positive opinion of Macron, for example, rose from 48% to 65.1%. The poll results made the French president the only one to receive more positive than negative ratings in the 2022 poll.

Putin “drowned” in relation to the Greeks

The attitude of Greek citizens towards Vladimir Putin has undergone the biggest changes compared to other politicians. In December 2019, 41.3% of Greeks spoke positively about him, and in March 2022, only 18.8% of such remained. At the same time, only Angela Merkel (70.2%) and Tayyip Erdogan (89.9%) are ahead of the Russian president in terms of the number of negative reviews. But with regard to Chinese President Xi Jinping, more than half of the Greeks did not form any opinion – neither good nor bad.

France is the best ally of Greece

Another unexpected conclusion obtained by the researchers during the survey. When asked “Which of the following countries are Greece’s best allies in foreign affairs?” 64.9% of Greeks answered – France. The Greeks also consider the US and Israel to be Greece’s “second best” allies. True, with a fairly large margin from the leader. And another significant change since the start of the war in Ukraine: the percentage of Greeks who chose Russia as one of Greece’s two most important allies has halved, from 15.2% in February to 7.5% in March. newsbeast.gr.

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