The proportion of Czechs who never follow political events in the media has increased to 20% as of the end of 2023, 11 percentage points more than in 2020, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) and released yesterday. This is the highest share in two decades.
Nevertheless, following political issues in the media remains the most common political engagement activity among the Czech public, ahead of discussing politics with friends. The least frequent form of political engagement is working for a political party.
Some 27% of citizens often follow information about politics in the media; about a quarter do so sometimes and 27% rarely. More than one-tenth of respondents often discuss politics with friends, 29% sometimes, and one-third rarely.
Roughly two-fifths are still involved in public affairs to some extent, while fewer are involved in other activities related to politics. 30% of respondents often, sometimes or rarely discuss politics online, 28% meet politicians, and one-fifth try to persuade their friends to vote in the same way as them. A similar share reported attending political rallies, while just 6% of citizens said they have worked for a political party.
“In general, for all questions, the answers are relatively stable over time, with the exception of following politics in the media, which has a fluctuating tendency in the long term perspective,” the survey authors said.
With regard to public events, CVVM said that Czechs most often participated in the activities of sports organisations (26%), followed by civic and hobby associations and charities (less than 20%). 10% of people are involved in professional associations, and less than one-tenth in activities for municipal self-governance, trade unions, churches and political parties.
CVVM conducted the survey on a sample of 900 Czech residents aged over 15 from the end of September to the beginning of December last year.
