Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán | Vladimir Simicek/AFP via Getty Images
A majority say there isn’t enough democracy in the two countries.
Only 38 percent of Polish citizens and 36 percent of Hungarian citizens think their countries are democratic, according to a study published on Monday.
The Democracy Perception Index, which surveyed people in 53 countries about their attitudes to democracy between April and June, also found that a majority of Poles and Hungarians would like their countries to be more democratic.
With 59 percent of Polish citizens surveyed saying there isn’t enough democracy in their country, Poland ranks first among “free” countries while Hungary ranks third in the group of “partly free” countries, just behind Nigeria and Indonesia.
Overall, 40 percent of people living in democracies do not think their countries are actually democratic. In all countries surveyed, a majority said democracy was important, ranging from 92 percent in Greece to 50 percent in Iran.
As for countries’ management of the coronavirus crisis, about half of people across all countries surveyed approved of their governments’ restrictions on people’s movement; just 17 percent thought the measures had been “too much” while 28 percent thought they weren’t enough.
In total, 70 percent of respondents were generally satisfied with their countries’ coronavirus management, although there are significant differences.
In Brazil and Chile, less than 40 percent thought that their governments had been responding well to the pandemic, while in China and Vietnam 95 percent said their governments had handled the situation well.
Among EU countries, Greece and Ireland got the best results, with 89 and 87 percent — respectively — expressing approval of their government’s response.
