Since November last year, the proportion of Hungarians who consider the government’s measures related to the coronavirus to be sufficiently strict has steadily exceeded 50 percent, a representative poll conducted by the Nézőpont Institute from Feb. 2 to Feb. 4 showed.
The survey, commissioned by Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet, compared responses to the lockdown from the end of last year with the beginning of this year. It found that the ratio of those wanting an easing is still in a significant minority, increasing slightly to 22 percent.
The proportion of those who want further tightening (11 percent) and those who are satisfied with the current restrictions (59 percent) combined is currently 70 percent. However, with the increase in the number of vaccinations and the arrival of milder weather, the proportion of those who support society opening is expected to increase, the Nézőpont Institute said.
Only every tenth Hungarian citizen would further tighten the measures, last autumn the proportion urging for restrictive measures exceeded 40 percent. However, the austerity measures introduced in November were satisfactory to the public.
The research also shows that measures related to the virus divide the left-wing voter camp: almost half of those dissatisfied with Viktor Orbán’s work are in favor of current or stricter measures (39 percent). The most pro-opening demographic group is the youngest age group, but there are also fewer of these positions among 18-29 year olds (41 percent) than those who are satisfied or even consider further tightening desirable (50 percent).
It is also interesting that in Budapest there is also a large majority of those who are satisfied with the current regulations (56 percent), and there is no significant difference between those who want further opening (18 percent) and those who want further tightening (15 percent), which also helps explain why the few protests against the measures in the capital gained so little traction.
Title image: Coronavirus vaccines are distributed to general practitioners in Budapest on Februray 9, 2021. (MTI/Balázs Mohai)
