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Poles have positive feelings towards scientists, but not towards ruling authorities

Trust in national governments, the European Commission, the media and scientists are the key elements of the research report issued by the international PERITIA project. The Polish Academy of Sciences is one of the project partners.

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Public attitudes towards the government and other institutions – is the main topic of research analyzing the role of science and expertise in policy making. The PERITIA project, which explores public trust in expertise, also looked at the conditions under which people trust expertise used for shaping public policy.

The study was conducted by the Policy Institute of King’s College London. It surveyed about 12 000 people from six European countries, including: the UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, Norway and Italy. How does Poland compare with other countries?

Trust and honesty 

According to the findings of experts, Poles have a far more negative perception of their government than some other nations. As many as half of the respondents in Poland believe that their government ignores the rules and procedures. This is the second result after the UK, where 62% of people express this opinion.

In contrast, only 35% of people in Germany and 34% in Norway say their government is flouting the rules. The average for the surveyed countries was 44%. 

In Poland: 

  • Over 70% of respondents say they are cautious about trusting government – the highest percentage among the countries surveyed; by comparison, only 40% of Norwegians agree. 
  • 70% of respondents disagree the government is honest and truthful, while in Norway only 36% of people think so. 
  • 68% of say they are unsure whether to believe the government, with both Norway (39%) and Germany (49%) faring better on this measure. 

Poles are critical of their government on several measures, in particular, when it comes to how they feel they are treated: 

  • 63% of Polish public say the government acts unfairly towards people like them – ahead of the UK (49%), Ireland (42%), Italy (42%), Germany (41%) and Norway (37%). 
  • In Poland, 66% say the government usually ignores people like them – above the six-country average of 54%, and again, with only people in the UK (61%) feeling almost equally ignored by their government. 

In line with these findings, 76% of people in Poland feel the government is not well respected, and the UK (66%) is the second nation where as high proportion feel this way. 

Feelings towards media 

Polish public have a particularly negative view of news and media organizations – 32% say they feel negatively about them as an institution. The countries with the least negative view are Norway (16%) and Germany (21%).

On the other hand, Poland is the country with the most positive feelings towards social media platform, where 31% of people rank them positive. 

Feelings towards the European Commission 

Among the nations covered by the survey, the inhabitants of Poland have the most positive perception of the European Commission (37%), in this respect we are ahead of Ireland (33%). The UK, on the other hand, has the most unfavorable view of the European Commission (33%). This is much more than the average for the surveyed countries, amounting to 23%. By comparison, in Ireland only 14% of people have a similarly negative opinion of the Commission. 

Feelings towards scientists 

One group of people who are positively viewed in all countries are scientists. On average, only 6% of people have a negative view of scientists working at universities, while as many as 53% of all respondents have a favorable perception. 

Scientists are most positively perceived in Ireland, where 63% of people feel positively about them, closely followed by Italy (62%), the UK (59%), Norway (57%), Poland (53%) and Germany (53%). 

The survey also included opinions on charities and non-profit organizations. Here, Poles expressed the most positive feelings about charities and NGOs among all respondents (53%), whilst Italians (22%) turned out to be the most critical in this respect. 

Series of reports 

As part of the PERITIA project, a total of five reports will be issued. Subsequent reports will be devoted to public attitudes towards COVID-19 and climate change. Reports should be made public in the coming weeks. 

About PERITIA 

PERITIA – Policy, Expertise and Trust – is an EU-funded research project investigating public trust in expertise. The consortium is composed of 11 partner organizations from across Europe. The project brings together philosophers, social and natural scientists, policy experts, ethicists, psychologists, media specialists and civil society organizations to conduct a comprehensive multi-disciplinary investigation of trust in and the trustworthiness of policy related expert opinion. 

pdf.png Read the full report on “Public attitudes towards national government and other institution”

Source of information: PERITIA 

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870883. The information and opinions on this website and other communications materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Commission.