At the same time, support for the European Union (EU) has increased, while support for Russia has decreased.
According to the survey conducted by the public opinion research company “Alpha Research” on behalf of the Humanitarian and Social Research Center, 49% of the respondents agreed that Bulgaria gained more from NATO membership than it lost, while 29% were of the opposite opinion.
Over the past six years, the advantage of the first group over the second has grown from five to 20 percentage points.
At the same time, support for Russia and its dictator, Vladimir Putin, has waned significantly. The image of Russians in the eyes of Bulgarians has been dramatically damaged after Russia’s repeated invasion of Ukraine.
The positive attitude towards Russia reached its highest point – 60.1% – in 2018, while only 31.8% of Bulgarians evaluate Russia positively this year. Although still high compared to the EU average, there is a clear downward trend.
While in 2018, only 8.2% of Bulgarians had a negative opinion of Russia, currently 33.7% of respondents have a negative attitude towards Russia.
In the eyes of Bulgarians, Putin’s image has also suffered significantly. The number of respondents who evaluate Putin positively has decreased from 45.2% to 22.1% since 2018. On the other hand, 49.5% of Bulgarians currently evaluate the Russian dictator negatively.
However, “Alpha Research” states that Bulgaria is the “weak link” among Eastern European countries, given the pro-Russian stance of some politicians. In addition, Russia’s hybrid warfare operations are fueling anti-Western sentiments, fueling societal polarization and potential conflict.
“Alpha Research” describes the Bulgarian mood as “mixed”. On the one hand, it is “in principle” pro-European, but on the other, strong historical and nostalgic sympathies for Russia remain.
Despite this, Bulgaria has an overwhelming pro-democracy majority in favor of EU membership. In general, two-thirds of Bulgarians want to live in a country with a Western-style democratic system, while a third would prefer a certain type of dictatorship – either an authoritarian regime, or a communist dictatorship, or a military junta, according to the results of the survey.
The greatest support for liberal democracy is in the capital city of Sofia, where 81% of respondents expressed their support for it. Also in the largest regional centers, 73% of respondents expressed their support for liberal democracy. However, in smaller cities this support already shrinks to 55%.
The more dissatisfied individuals and social groups there are in society, the greater the support for various populist parties and movements, the researchers say.
Overall, 61% of Bulgarians currently support Bulgaria’s EU membership, while only 16% oppose it. The authors of the study indicate that this was facilitated by Russia’s war against Ukraine, which helped Bulgarian citizens to see the potential damage that leaving the EU could cause.
2024-08-22 10:30:03