About one-third of Poles have a negative attitude toward Ukrainians

About 33% of Poles have a negative attitude toward Ukrainians, while 43% have a neutral attitude and 24% have a positive one. These are the findings of a survey conducted under the direction of Dominika Mezon, a professor at the University of Warsaw. The researcher also highlighted the gap between people’s actual attitudes and how they perceive other Poles’ attitudes toward Ukrainians.

 

Nearly half of Poland’s residents have a neutral attitude toward Ukrainians. At the same time, about one-third of respondents expressed a negative attitude, and nearly one-quarter expressed a positive one. The survey was conducted under the direction of Warsaw University Professor Dominika Mezon. A total of 1,070 adult Polish citizens participated in the survey. The researchers used an online survey with a representative sample designed to reflect the views of the country’s adult population.

According to the results, 43% of respondents have a neutral attitude toward Ukrainians, 24% have a positive attitude, and 33% have a negative attitude. The researcher noted that, compared to previous surveys, negative attitudes have increased slightly. However, the changes are not as significant as media reports might suggest.

Poles Assess Their Fellow Citizens’ Attitudes Differently

Dominika Mezon drew attention to another finding of the study. According to her, there is a widespread perception in Poland that most of their compatriots have a negative attitude toward Ukrainians. However, the responses of the survey participants themselves paint a different picture. The researcher urged caution when making generalizations about the sentiments of Polish society. In her view, overly negative coverage of the topic can create the false impression that hostility toward Ukrainians is the majority view. “That’s why I say we need to be careful here and not exaggerate. After all, this kind of media coverage leads to more than half of Poles believing that Poles have a negative attitude toward Ukrainians,” Mezon explained.

She drew attention to the difference between two indicators: how people feel about Ukrainians personally, and how they assess other Poles’ attitudes toward them. “Half of Poles believe that other Poles have a negative attitude toward Ukrainians, whereas the number of those who actually admit to having a negative attitude themselves is smaller,” the researcher noted. In her view, this creates a stereotype of Poles as people who supposedly always have a negative attitude toward Ukrainians. She believes that such perceptions should not be spread without taking into account the actual survey results.

Attitudes also depend on where Ukrainians live

The researcher also emphasized that Poles’ attitudes toward Ukrainians may vary depending on the circumstances. In particular, people may view Ukrainians living in Ukraine differently from those who have moved to Poland. This is an important clarification, as the overall assessment of attitudes toward Ukrainians does not necessarily reflect Poles’ views of all groups of Ukrainians in the same way. Perceptions can be influenced by personal experience, contact with Ukrainians, and information people receive from the media.

At the same time, these results do not mean that negative attitudes do not exist or that they cannot intensify. The survey shows that a significant portion of respondents hold such views, but they do not predominate among the responses.

What the Study Revealed

The survey results indicate that the largest share of participants has a neutral attitude toward Ukrainians. A positive attitude was expressed by 24% of respondents, while 33% expressed a negative one. One specific conclusion drawn by the researcher concerns how Poles perceive the sentiments of their own society. The perception of widespread hostility toward Ukrainians may be more prevalent than the negative attitudes people report on their own behalf.

At the same time, the study does not provide grounds for asserting that attitudes toward Ukrainians in Poland are uniform across all population groups or that the results reflect the opinion of every Pole. It records the responses of a specific sample of adult citizens of the country. The survey data were published by Polish Radio. The survey was conducted online among a representative sample of 1,070 adult Polish citizens. This is evidenced by the survey results published by Polish Radio.