The Czech public continue to see Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, and international organised crime as the biggest threats to their country, according to a survey published by the STEM polling agency today, though they are more afraid of drought and politics of Russia than four years ago.
Regarding the fear of Russia, the pollsters noted that the previous survey had been carried out before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Czechs are now also more worried about the political decisions of the European Union and of the United States. On the contrary, they are less concerned about China’s policies and foreign intelligence services.
Fears of migrants have also receded. While in 2021, three quarters of people were very worried about the arrival of refugees, last month this was 58% of respondents, despite nearly 400,000 refugees from Ukraine having temporary protection in the Czech Republic, most of them having moved since Russia invaded their homeland.
Drought is also considered a big threat to the Czech Republic. “This particular manifestation of climate change is generally seen as a slightly stronger threat than climate change itself,” STEM said.
The agency states that the age, education and party preferences of the respondents have an impact on the perception of threats.
In general, young people under 29 are less afraid in general. Elderly people and people with lower education levels tend to be more afraid of Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism and international organised crime, as well as the arrival of refugees.
When asked which threats they thought would need to be addressed in the future, one fifth of respondents said illegal migration, again most often by people with lower levels of education. University graduates tended to name disinformation and other forms of manipulation more often. Czechs are also afraid of more frequent natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes, and of cyber attacks against citizens and critical infrastructure.
The survey was conducted on 1,059 adult respondents from June 12 to June 26.
