Civic Poll 2021 - perception of CSOs

Political Capital and Civilisation Coalition have published a joint study on the public perception of civil society organisations (CSOs) for the second time.

The study revealed that while many people remain unsure what constitutes a CSO, half of those surveyed could name at least one. Citizens are keen to support causes that are important to them in a variety of ways: two thirds of respondents consider that they could help in the future, and one in three have already supported a CSO in some way.

The results also show that more people than ever before have been reached by CSOs during the coronavirus epidemic: one in six said they or a relative/acquaintance had received help from CSOs, compared to nearly one in ten in 2019. At the presentation event of the study, the responses of CSOs to the crisis were illustrated by two Hungarian CSOs, the Civil College Foundation and the Independent Performing Arts Association by their own examples.

People see helping those in need as an important task for civil society, but at the same time the rejection of many social groups is very high. According to the responses, they would least like to support organisations helping prisoners and most of all organisations helping children. Differences in party preferences are also present here, with Fidesz voters more in favour of helping Hungarians living beyond the border or large families, and opposition voters more in favour of helping LGBT communities. There was no such difference in their support for Roma or homeless people. The majority of people also think it is important for CSOs to take a stand on public issues.

The full survey is available here. (in Hungarian)

You can watch the video of the study presentation event here. (in Hungarian)

The results of the first survey of 2019 can be found here. (in Hungarian)