Survey: Majority Of Voters Satisfied With Referendum Outcome

  • 6 Oct 2016 9:00 AM
Survey: Majority Of Voters Satisfied With Referendum Outcome
The majority of Hungarian voters are satisfied with the result of the Oct. 2 referendum on EU migrant quotas and support amending the constitution, according to a survey by pollster Századvég. Fully 54% of the survey’s respondents said they were satisfied with Sunday’s result and altogether 68% said they agreed with the prime minister’s proposal to amend Hungary’s constitution.

Századvég found that 29% of voters were not satisfied with the outcome of the referendum while 15% had mixed feelings about it. Altogether 71% said the European Union should consider the will of Hungarian voters on the subject of mandatory migrant quotas while 23% said it does not have to.

Among those who voted on Sunday, 81% said Brussels has to take the opinion of Hungarian voters into account compared with 12% who said it does not. Sixty eight percent of respondents said they expect the government to pass a law or amend the constitution to reflect the outcome of the referendum.

Fully 17% said the government does not have to take any action over the result, while 7% said it should simply accept the European Commission’s mandatory quota scheme.

No less than 92% of Fidesz supporters backed the idea of a constitutional amendment, as did 93% of the supporters of radical nationalist Jobbik.

Most of the supporters of the opposition Socialists, the Democratic Coalition, LMP and Együtt opposed the passage of any kind of legislation to reflect the result of the referendum, while 10-15% supported it.

Altogether 60% of self-declared centrists supported a constitutional amendment, as did 56% of undecided voters.

Respondents who backed accepting migrant quotas were predominantly left-wing voters: 40% of Együtt, 24% of LMP and 15% of the Democratic Coalition’s supporters said Hungary should accept the scheme.

Századvég also found that only leftwing voters had considered boycotting the referendum. Among the total sample, however, 79% opposed the idea of boycotting a vote in general compared with 14% who supported it.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

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