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In June, the Public Opinion Research Centre conducted a survey dealing with, inter alia, the issue of women in politics. The vast majority of Czech citizens (84%) hold the opinion that the involvement of women in public affairs is beneficial to society. On the other hand, only a tenth of respondents think that it is not beneficial. Less than a quarter of respondents believe that the participation of women in public life is sufficient.

We have long been monitoring the trustworthiness various social institutions enjoy among the public. The last survey investigating this issue was conducted by the Public Opinion Research Centre in March.

People place the greatest trust in persons they know (88% of respondents trust most of them) and in the president (75%). They generally consider the army (61%) and our media, namely television (64%) and newspapers (59%), to be trustworthy.

The Czech public considers unemployment to be the most acute problem now. 84% of those polled believe that the unemployment must be tackled ‘very urgently’ and a further 12% believe that it needs to be tackled ‘quite urgently’. This year, the unemployment is followed by problems in the health sector that are considered even more serious than organised crime and corruption, which jointly ranked at the top of the ‘ladder’ in the year 2002.

In its February survey, the Public Opinion Research Centre examined the public opinion on the activities of Charta 77. The respondents were, as was the case in 1993, asked two closed questions. The first question focused on the overall assessment of the activities of Charta 77, while the other investigated the reasons why people had signed the document.

28% of respondents say that Charta 77 prepared the demise of the communist regime; nearly a third (31%) are of the opinion that the activities of Charta 77 had no impact, 3% think that it endangered other citizens and 38% cannot judge the activities of Charta 77 (it is interesting to note that this figure stood at 51% in 1993).

The general political orientation of the Czech population is one of the topics the Public Opinion Research Centre has been systematically monitoring. In the left-right political spectrum, the Czech population is divided in a way that corresponds with most patterns in the population. The largest group of people shows average figures and their numbers are gradually decreasing towards the edges. In total, the number of left-wing respondents is slightly smaller than the number of right-wing respondents.

People place the greatest trust in persons they know (88% of respondents trust most of them). They generally consider our media, namely television (66%) and newspapers (60%), the president (62%) and the army (58%) to be trustworthy. More than a half of respondents are of the opinion that they can believe the majority of people in our country (55%), whereas roughly two fifths are persuaded to the contrary.

The general political orientation of the Czech population is one of the topics the Public Opinion Research Centre has been systematically monitoring. October surveys conclude that in the right-left political spectrum, the Czech population is divided in a way that corresponds with most patterns in the population: the largest group of people shows average figures (20%) and their numbers are gradually decreasing towards the edges.

Those polled consider television to be the trustworthiest institution (trusted by 66%), followed by their mayor (61%), the president of the republic (60%) and newspapers in general (60%). The majority of the population also trusts the army (57%) and the police (55%). Roughly two fifths of those surveyed expressed trust in courts, trade unions and their regional president. The prime minister and churches are trusted by approximately a third of respondents.

People place the greatest trust in persons they know (88% of respondents trust most of them). More than a half of respondents (54%) are of the opinion that they can believe the majority of people in our country, whereas roughly two fifths are persuaded to the contrary. Those surveyed generally consider our media (62%) and the army (55%) to be trustworthy. A large proportion of respondents also trust the police (53%), as opposed to 43% who mistrust it.

Only a quarter (26%) of those polled say that ten years ago they agreed with the break-up of Czechoslovakia, whereas at that time there were twice as many opponents of the break-up (59%).