Majority of Fidesz voters believe Russia attacked Ukraine to defend itself, poll finds

Závecz Research conducted a public opinion poll in early October, commissioned by security policy expert Péter Tarjányi, Index reports. They primarily sought to assess the opinions of Hungarians about the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as Hungary's NATO and EU membership.

The majority opinion has not changed drastically with regard to who is responsible for the war: 65 percent of the population consider Russia to be the aggressor and 62 percent say Russia is responsible for the situation. This has not changed since 2022.

However, the number of those who believe that Russia attacked Ukraine to defend itself has increased from 13 to 22 per cent, and the proportion of those who believe that Ukraine is responsible for the war has risen from 16 to 26 per cent. Simultaneously, the number of those who are undecided on these questions has declined, with 12-13 per cent now being uncertain, which is down from 22-25 per cent in 2022.

The survey also found that the proportion of Fidesz and Mi Hazánk voters who condemn Russia has decreased over the past two years: the number of Fidesz voters who are undecided on this has halved over the past two years. Compared to 53 percent before, now only 41 percent of Fidesz voters consider Russia's activities an aggression, while

44 percent believe that Russia started the war to defend itself, compared to 18 percent two years ago.

Remaining in the European Union and NATO continues to enjoy the majority's support, with 46 percent of Fidesz voters saying Hungary should stay in the EU, while 37 percent would vote to leave. 46 percent of Mi Hazánk voters would say yes to this, and 42 percent would say no. In the case of Tisza and DK voters, 89 and 93 percent respectively would opt to remain.

Even more people are in favour of NATO membership, with 78 percent saying we should stay, 8 percent saying we should leave, and 14 percent unable to decide.

Závecz Reserach conducted the representative survey of 1000 people by telephone. The data was collected between 1-8 October.