IDEA Institute: The majority of Hungarian youth believe Orbán's policies could lead the country out of the EU

Even prior to last December's EU summit, Hungarian adults who believed there was a realistic chance that Viktor Orbán's policies could lead Hungary out of the EU were in the majority, according to a survey conducted by IDEA Institute last December.

In the survey, the institute aimed to find out whether the Hungarian adult population thought there was a real chance that the political path represented by Viktor Orbán would sooner or later lead Hungary out of the European Union. The survey was conducted before Orbán's veto of the revised EU budget and before him leaving the room during the vote on starting accession talks with Ukraine.

There is a deep division on the issue, as 44% of adults said there was a real chance that Viktor Orbán's policies could lead to Hungary leaving the EU in the future, while 39% said they did not think this was a realistic possibility. 17 percent of the respondents were unable to decide.

How young people, i.e. those under 30 view this question is even more striking: more than half of those under 30 (54%) thought that the Orbán government's policies may ultimately lead to Hungary leaving the European Union. Women (48%) consider this outcome more likely than men (41%).

The institute writes that opinions on this issue are not independent of political preferences: only a minority of Fidesz-KDNP voters (23 percent) and MSZP voters (30 percent) believe that Orbán's policies could lead Hungary out of the EU. At the same time, the majority of the other parties’ voters are of the opinion that the Hungarian government's policies do carry the risk of an exit from the Union.