Majority of Slovaks are concerned about the rise and spread of extremism
Institute for Public Affairs conducted representative opinion poll about the perception of extremism is Slovak society. The survey is a part of a project Focused on Extremism. Slovak and foreign media widely informed about the poll findings.
The poll showed there are no differences in the perception of extremism among various social environments.
Extremism and its increasing influence is a serious problem according to nearly three-quarters of people living in Slovakia who are personally concerned by this trend. Only 13 percent of Slovaks have a different opinion and do not consider the rise in extremism a problem we should worry about.
Moreover, 63 percent of Slovaks are concerned by the spread of hatred and intolerance via social networks and consider it a serious problem in society. This stems from a poll carried out by the Focus agency for the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) think tank between July 13 and 24, on 1,025 respondents older than 18 years of age.
The poll also showed there are no differences in the perception of extremism among various social environments. Extremism concerns the majority of both men and women, the majority of people of different age groups and different education; also the majority of both Slovaks and people with Hungarian nationality; and the majority of inhabitants of all regions and municipalities of different sizes.
The only statistically important factor is political preferences. While among supporters of the far-right People’s Party – Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) only 21 percent consider extremism a serious problem, in the case of supporters from other political parties it is 63-84 percent, the poll showed.
