For the first time since CBOS is investigating this issue, there are more than supporters in Poland who argue the admission of refugees from Ukraine. In the July poll, 52 percent of the respondents voted against, 42 percent. In 2022, just after the Russian invasion, 94 percent of Poles supported the reception of refugees.
Inverting the proportion
The Centre for Social Opinion investigation asked Poles about the attitude to refugees from Ukraine in a survey conducted between 2 and 12 July. It was attended by 938 adults. The consequence broke a long-standing pattern. Supporters of the reception of people fleeing the war have found themselves in number for the first time since the studio asked this question.
The scale of change is clear. Compared to the December survey, opponents came by 6 percent points, and supporters lost just as much. This decision is not sudden. The moods have been deteriorating systematically since mid-2023, and the July poll only crossed the border for which opposition became the attitude of the majority.
Fatigue with the scale of aid
Not only does the reluctance to receive refugees themselves appear from the survey, but besides the assessment of the support to date. 54 percent of the respondents considered that the aid to Ukrainian refugees was besides large. It was considered appropriate by 40 percent and only by 3 percent.
The question of benefits is even stronger. Reduced access to free medical care was supported by 87 percent of the respondents, against 8 percent. This is the level of consent seldom found in public affairs polls.
Limits of solidarity
However, the image is not uniform. erstwhile the question afraid taking distant mothers with tiny children from the right to free accommodation in collective centres, the proportions reversed. 58 percent of Poles were against this solution, 29 percent. The toughness of opinion weakens where children and the most susceptible are involved.
The survey shows a society that, after more than 3 years of war beyond the east border, moves from the impulse of solidarity to a cold cost calculation. Support from 2022 was a reaction to the shock of full-scale aggression erstwhile admission of refugees was supported by 94 percent of respondents. Today's 42 percent is simply a consequence of fatigue, rising spending, and everyday neighbourhoods, which turned out to be longer than anyone expected. Whether the policy towards refugees will keep up with this change of temper will most likely be resolved sooner than the authors believe.
Source: One News
