Policy Paper: The Contentious Issue of Immigration: How Polarized Is Czech Society?

In hardly any other EU country are opinions on immigration so closely divided as in the Czech Republic: About three-quarters of the population want a more restrictive immigration policy. At the same time, no other political issue triggers stronger emotions than migration. How can an issue on which there is broad consensus be so emotionally charged? And how can this finding be explained given that, following Russia’s war of aggression, the Czech Republic took in the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita in the EU?

The new MIDEM Policy Paper is based on data from the Polarization Barometer—specifically, the survey that MIDEM conducted in collaboration with YouGov across eight EU member states. In it, the authors analyze the unique case of the Czech Republic—and what this means for the new Babiš government and its relationship with the EU.

Available at: https://forum-midem.de/reizthema-zuwanderung-wie-polarisiert-ist-die-tschechische-gesellschaft/