Which nations do Hungarians like and dislike the most?

A new study revealed which nations Hungarian people like and dislike the most. Political preferences make a huge difference in the responses.

In a survey commissioned by Népszava, the Publicus public opinion research institute was tasked to ask Hungarians that at what extent they feel sympathy or antipathy towards other nations. In the survey, which was representative of age, gender and education level, respondents expressed their opinions on eighteen nations.

The most liked nations by Hungarians

The most liked nation according to the respondents was the Italians, with 84 percent of the respondents replying that they have a positive affinity towards them. They were closely followed by the Austrians, with 82 percent of the respondents saying they are positive in their opinion.

On the lowest step of the fictional podium are the Polish, with 81 percent. Just below Polish people are the Spanish and the Finnish, with both countries scoring above 80 percent of positive remarks from the respondents. The Spanish scored the lowest score on antipathy as well, with only 3 percent of the respondents stating that they do not like Spanish people.

The most disliked nations

The most disliked nation according to the respondents proved to be the Russian, with 47 percent of the respondents stating that they particularly dislike them. It was the only nation where antipathy was stronger in respondents, with only 44 percent of them stating they associate positive connotations with Russian people.

The Russians were followed by the Romanians (36 percent), the Chinese (31 percent) and the Ukrainians (30 percent). Indians were placed in a particularly low position, thanks to in no small part due to the indecisiveness of the respondents, with 24 percent of them either refusing to answer or stating that they do not have sufficient information to rank them.

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Political affinity makes a huge difference in the response

Despite the overall positive picture with no other nation scoring below 50 percent other than Russia, there were huge differences in the responses based on political preferences. Overall, Hungarian people who agree with the current government and voted for Fidesz were much more close-minded and had a worse opinion of all but three nations than left-leaning voters.

These three nations were the Russians, the Chinese and the Turkish. Publicus mentions that this means that Fidesz’s message still reaches its voter base with incredible efficiency. Fidesz voter respondents stated that they dislike the Ukrainians most, they were followed by Americans (USA), the Germans and just then the Russians. However, this survey also shows that despite the supermajority that Fidesz is enjoying in the national parliament, Hungarian people generally have much more nuanced opinions.

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