In Hungary, those who are dissatisfied with the pro-Russian foreign policy of Viktor Orbán’s government before the war have increased. As “European Truth” writes, these are the data of the Publicus Institute survey for the opposition publication Nepszava. The ratio of those dissatisfied and satisfied with the government’s policy was exactly the same in February (46%-46%), in April those satisfied with Orbán’s government’s policy prevailed (56%), but now the trend has changed: 50% are dissatisfied, and only 40% are satisfied. An even bigger shift in opinion is if you ask the question this way: How satisfied are you with the way the government has responded to the war so far? In February, 60% of respondents were satisfied, in April – 66%, but by August, the satisfied group had decreased to 42%, and the dissatisfied group had increased to 52%.
The number of those who expect Prime Minister Viktor Orban to condemn Russia more severely than now for the attack on Ukraine has increased (up to 48%). 34% of respondents do not have such a need, 18% did not answer the question. At the same time, significantly fewer Fidesz supporters (15%) want to see tougher actions by the prime minister than the opposition (88%). In March, 86% agreed that Hungary does not support Ukraine with weapons, and 79% agreed that Hungary accepts all refugees from Ukraine. In these two questions, the percentage of those who agree with the actions of the authorities decreased to 79 and 68 percent, respectively. 64% of respondents also agree that Hungary does not pass weapons to Ukraine through its territory. In general, 23% believe that Hungary should have provided more aid to Ukraine, 48% believe that the level of aid is approximately sufficient. 12% would like less aid, while 8% think it should have been helped in a different way, not necessarily more or less.In February, 64% of respondents qualified the war in Ukraine as Russian aggression, in April only 56%. Based on data from August, this statement is again supported by 63 percent. However, 19% of survey participants still believe that the war is more defensive on the part of Russia, and 17% could not or did not want to answer. Among Fidesz sympathizers, significantly fewer (46%) believe that Russia committed aggression than in the opposition camp (88%). Among university graduates, there is an extremely high share of those who qualify what happened as aggression (80%), as do the vast majority of Budapest residents (77%). Earlier, a poll by the Századvég organization loyal to the authorities showed that the vast majority of Hungarians do not support EU sanctions against Russia, are against the ban on issuing visas to Russians, and also do not agree with the supply of weapons to Ukraine by EU member states.