Today, a number of Ukrainian media outlets published articles with headlines such as “Poland’s willingness to help refugees from Ukraine is decreasing.” At the same time, the material from the Polish edition Rzeczpospolita was reprinted mainly.
We analyzed this publication, as well as other publications on this topic in the Polish media, which referred to“a study of public perception of Ukrainian refugees and migrants conducted in late May and early June by the Research Laboratory of the University of Warsaw and the Academy of Economics and Humanities in Warsaw.” At this point, we have not yet found this study in the public domain, but we have analyzed publications in various media, as well as the original material itself, and have come to the following conclusions.
- The survey “Public Perception of Refugees from Ukraine, Migrants and Measures Taken by the Government of Mateusz Morawiecki” was conducted from May 23 to June 6, 2023. The all-Polish sample consisted of 584 people aged 16-65. The survey was conducted using a mixed methodology (including: 27.4% of interviews were conducted using the CAWI method; 56.3% – using the CATI method and 16.3% – using the CAPI method). The maximum error is 4%, the confidence level is 95%.
The sample is very small for a nationwide survey. For example, all-Ukrainian surveys are conducted with a sample of 1000 respondents during the war, while in the pre-war period representative surveys used a sample of 2000 respondents. - Result 1. “The majority of Poles still have a positive perception of refugees from this country (67%), but the percentage of respondents who perceive them positively has decreased by as much as 13 percentage points. At the same time, the group of respondents who perceive Ukrainians in a negative light increased from 8% to 13%.“. – “Compared to January 2023, the share of respondents who said that their attitude towards refugees from Ukraine has changed has increased by 6 percentage points to 31%.”The overwhelming majority of respondents who felt the change believe that their attitude towards refugees from this country has worsened from 68% to 85%.” the survey says.
These figures are quite correlated with each other, 85% of 31% is 26%.
The article manipulates the figure of 85% deterioration in attitudes, although this applies to only 26% of respondents. - Result 2. 85% of respondents still believe that Poland should help Ukraine during the war with Russia. However, the percentage of those who have a strong preference in this regard decreased from 62% in January 2023 to 40% in June 2023.
No comments, everything is obvious. - Result 3. Compared to January 2023, respondents’ preferences for additional support for Ukraine from the Polish state beyond the measures already taken have changed.“For the first time, we are dealing with a situation where the majority of Poles (55%) are against additional assistance.” – the survey shows. 68% of Poles surveyed are in favor of accepting refugees from Ukraine until they are able to return to their country.
“However, compared to January 2023, the percentage of those who believe that we should accept refugees from Ukraine and allow them to settle has decreased by 16 percentage points,” the poll says. Instead. “5% of respondents oppose the admission of refugees from Ukraine to Poland, and this percentage has not changed significantly since the beginning of the survey.”
Given the unprecedented amount of aid to Ukraine from Poland, it is really not worth counting on support for an INCREASE in aid. However, 68% of those who are ready to accept refugees AS MUCH AS NEEDED is also an eloquent figure.
We also draw attention to the title of the study, “Public Perception of Refugees from Ukraine, Migrants and Measures Taken by the Government of Mateusz Morawiecki,” and its obvious political and election overtones. The elections in Poland are in the fall, and this is obviously artistic preparation.
We very much hope that the Ukrainian issue will not become a bargaining chip in the political struggle in a friendly country and urge the Ukrainian media to be very careful in publishing materials that could provoke conflicting emotions.
Our previous article, “Media distorted the results of a study on the attitude of Poles toward Ukrainians,” analyzed a previous study of this group.
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