October 25th, 2011

Poll finds near-majority of Hungarians willing to trade democracy for prosperity

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Hungarians are evenly divided on whether they would replace the present democratic system with a right- or left-wing authoritarian system, provided such a system assured faster economic progress, according to a survey.

The Nézőpont Institute’s telphone survey of 1,000 people found 45% support for and against the idea, with 10% undecided.

In party preference terms, 65% of Jobbik supporters and 57% of Socialist voters would accept such a change, along with 33% of Fidesz supporters and 38% of LMP backers.

An authoritiarian but prosperous system found most favour among those with only a basic education and rural dwellers.

On another question, 27% of respondents said Iran is the greatest threat to world peace, while 21% named Israel and 18% the US.

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  • Viking

    Kadar Come Back!
    The Golden Times, when
    * there was no personal income tax
    * you always had money to spend
    * no need to pay for services (officially)
    * every one had a work, and those who did not where got what they deserved (at least the gypsys)
    * The gypsys were kept out of the villages

  • Leto

    These figures are the really interesting thing in this article.

    “In party preference terms, 65% of Jobbik supporters and 57% of Socialist voters would accept such a change, along with 33% of Fidesz supporters and 38% of LMP backers.”

    Fidesz supporters are the ones who favour least replacing the democratic system with a right- or left-wing authoritarian system.

    • American in Budapest

      That’s because they think Fidesz is democracy.

      :)

    • Viking

      Leto says:
      October 25, 2011 at 12:23 pm

      Fidesz supporters are the ones who favour least replacing the democratic system with a right- or left-wing authoritarian system
      —
      Or are the ones who live in bigger cities and hence were more restricted pre-1990
      On the country-side the social mobility was much lower and the pre-1990 system did not bring so much bad changes to the country-side. With 1990 much of the country-side was negatively affected and that hurt the traditional MSZP and “Jobbik” voters more, than the more mobile and educated Fidesz-voters
      Or more correct, the voters that today identifies themselves as Fidesz-voters. 20 years they were MDF-voters
      Tomorrow they will maybe be identifying themselves as something else, then one can see these figures as The Supreme Leader will have a real problem limiting peoples options in the future and the judgement can come rather swift, when Gyurcsány cannot be blamed any-more for the actions performed with the same success as so far

  • Leto

    So among all party supporters, Fidesz supporters are the ones who favour least replacing the democratic system with a right- or left-wing authoritarian system.

    • Leto

      Erik, this is quite annoying: The post often shows up only a few minutes later and one would think it didn’t work!

      • http://www.allhungary.hu Erik D’Amato

        Ha! Well, thank the Media Law for it. (Truly – comment moderation was a direct result.) But on the substantive issue you raised above, I’d say some of it can be ascribed to partisanship on Nézőpont’s side, and some of it to the fact that Fidesz supporters are the ones who most recently got their way via the democratic process. But I am not so shocked to see MSZP voters saying they’d trade their ballot for a bundle of sausages….

        • Leto

          All right but then please let the site DO give some feedback if the post was submitted successfully or not.. It’s a technical issue, that’s all.

          As for Nézőpont’s poll, the latter factor may play a large enough part indeed but I doubt your remark about the “partisanship on Nézőpont’s side” holds. The partisanship of Median or Szonda Ipos doesn’t show in their numbers either, it appears in their interpretation and presentation of their data.

          • Viking

            I think what ‘leto’ refers is to the few cases every week (10%?), when the response back that the post was accepted or not is missing
            What seem to happen is that when the reCAPTCHA gone through there is a problem storing the post and the reload of the page happens without the just submitted post is shown, with or without the “waiting for moderation” line
            I would suggest to look into the process between the accept of the reCAPTCHA and the reload, here a temporary error message is lost and the page is reloaded in the client
            When then trying to submit the same post again, you get a message that the post has already been accepted, but still it can take hours for the post to show up (even when not moderated)
            So it is a bug, probably in combination with storing/checking the original post

          • Leto

            Yes, that’s the bug which I mean but it’s much more common than “a few cases”.

  • Fed up

    When I came here many years ago, I perceived that the casting off of the communist yoke had a lot more to do with cars, jeans, washing machines and the like than it did with liberty. Hungarians could care less who is running Hungary or how as long the good times roll. Need evidence? Just look at today’s government and the political polls. There’s no Hungarian institution that contain the government. It’s up to the EU.

  • I love Hungary

    “He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.” – Benjamin Franklin

  • democrat

    It is a stupid survey question. Just look around is there a single authoritarian system which is running ahead of OECD average? Russia, Burma, most of Africa, most of the middle east, Cuba, North Vietnam. What our Great Leader has created is pretty close to an authoritarian system and look at the prospects for growth next year. The answer to the question lies in the fact that only 20% of the electorate now support the Great Leader and his policies. People are slowly realising that just the chosen few prosper within these systems.

    • Leto

      “pretty close to an authoritarian system”

      Your ilk keeps shouting that from the top of your lungs (and that your kind are the “democrats”) but, according to the polls and by-elections, you’re just unable to capitalize on this mantra. :D

      • Viking

        Leto says:
        October 26, 2011 at 11:13 am

        according to the polls and by-elections, you’re just unable to capitalize on this mantra
        —
        Like in Russia then?
        Good example?
        Maybe the ‘Arab Spring’ will become an ‘Hungarian Spring’?

      • American in Budapest

        Leto,

        Are you really so childish as to think democracy means a tyranny of the majority?

        And are you so naive to believe that Fidesz can continue in power with an economy running on empty?

        There’s a recession coming in 2012.

        :)

        • Leto

          You’re apparently glad about that, you moron.

        • Curious George

          @AIB – why are you pleased about the coming recession? It’s going to cause a lot more pain for everyone, even for those who can withstand it better (just look at fuel prices).
          Yesterday, I saw an ad in the papers – a property fair advertising blocks of 5 houses in the US for $200 000, and getting 20% (net yield) guaranteed for 2 years. Most of these were bank repos in Georgia, Ohio, Michigan etc & were done up for tenancy. Hundreds of my countrymen went to the fair, and everything they advertised was sold out (we aren’t too badly affected by this downturn, yet:) ) But really, how challenging or fun is it to make your money on someone else’s misfortune?

        • justasking

          @Ugly American,

          “There’s a recession coming in 2012″

          Hmmm, well according to the Economist…Obama is shitting about the same thing. Worried that when the Euro Crisis hits, and it will, it’s going to stump your beloved countries attempt to come out of the situation that it’s in right now.

          I’ll keep an eye out for those smiley faces you posted to Leto, when it comes to an economy near you.

  • DoubleH63

    @I love Hungary

    Very true. Too bad the Americans [and the rest of the democratic world] are not reading too much of the advices of the Founding Fathers lately. I can feel it in my crotch at the airports, as I stand in front of the TSA agent without my shoes, trying to hold up my beltless pants.

  • DoubleH63

    @democrat

    Gee, not another democrat [we got plenty here already]! And why not Democrat [what are you, nemecsek?]
    Burma? Isn’t that country called something else now? I know the American Negroes and the Gypsies took a new name – I am pretty sure Burma did too.

  • DoubleH63

    @American in Budapest

    I am so happy to see that after being Professor of Geography [especially when it comes to neighbouring countries] and Professor of History [especially Hungarian]; now you are the new Nostradamus. Are you also predicting the end of the world come 12/12/2012?
    [Now that will end the recession pretty good!]

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