Those polled who preferred or sympathised with a particular political party were, as part of our January survey, asked a repeated question examining the intensity of the relation with this political party.
Only 12% of voters called themselves staunch party supporters. Almost every third voter (32%) now prefers a particular political party just because it annoys them the least (i.e. there is no party that the voter would ‘like’). The above fact illustrates the loosening of ties between voters and preferred parties, with over a half of those polled saying that their relation with the party is quite weak (25% disagree on many issues and 32% do not like any party).
The respondents almost universally agree that they choose a certain party because they identify with its programme (83%), with the party ideology (82%) and because they place trust in the party leaders (80%). There is slightly less broad consensus about the importance of existing activities of the party (68%). Over a third of supporters of political parties say that their preferences are influenced by the political orientation of their family. It does not come as a surprise that the factor of participation in party life ranked last among the reasons for supporting a party – less than a tenth of respondents currently considerer it to play an important role in their decision-making.