OFinterest in the European elections is growing slightly, six out of ten people are interested in them. Eight out of ten Czechs know that EP elections are being held this year. And four out of ten also know the voting date.
These are some of the main conclusions of the Ipsos survey, which is part of the joint project of ČTK Connect and the European Parliament with the aim of communicating European issues before the June EP elections. This is the second survey on this topic this year.
The first one was carried out by the agency in February and presented in March. Among other things, people’s willingness to come to the polls, including modeled voter turnout, also changed between the waves.
Ipsos Executive Director Michal Straka will inform about the current trends, as well as other conclusions. Co-commentators will be Petr Zahradník, an economist and analyst specializing in the EU, and Kateřina Šafaříková, a journalist and long-time reporter from Brussels. It will take place in the new headquarters of the domestic representations of the EP and the European Commission in the Dunaj Palace – Europa Experience on Národní třída on Thursday, May 9 from 2:30 p.m.
According to Ipsos, the most common reasons for participating in the EP elections are expressing an opinion towards the current government and influencing the direction and content of European Union policy. Half of the people decide on the credibility of the candidates when electing to the EP.
Czechs consider security and peace in the union, the security of the EU and the security of the Czech Republic to be the most important guarantees that the EU should provide to the Czech Republic.
According to the respondents, the necessity of a new direction for the union and the deterioration of the situation in the world are the most common reasons why people think that this year’s European elections are more important than the previous ones, which were held five years ago. Back then, in 2019, the real voter turnout was 29 percent, in 2014 it was only 18 percent.
Half of the population gets information about the elections in June 2024 from television, less than a third from internet news portals.
A third of the population thinks that the European elections can change something for them personally, while citizens expect a greater influence (54 percent) for the entire Czech Republic. The fact that EP elections can change something is more often expected by people under the age of 24.
The presentation of a recent survey by the Ipsos agency is moderated by Štěpánka Duchková. All candidate political entities received invitations to the event. ČTK Connect will broadcast the live broadcast on the YouTube channel, the ceskenoviny.cz website and in other media. The recording will be available even after the end of the show.
