According to the representative poll conducted in June, 2017 among 1,001 respondents, Hungarians consider an international cyber attack to be the most likely possible threat to Hungary from abroad, closely followed by an epidemic arriving from abroad, and a large wave of refugees. Hungarians are least worried about a rocket attack from North Korea, according to the data.

A significant majority of respondents considered a serious increase in Russian influence in Hungary to be a threat facing the country: 52 thought it rather likely to occur, compared to 38 percent who found it unlikely.

The data showed that Hungarians are now less worried about refugees coming to Hungary than they were at the height of the crisis in Summer 2015. The ratio of respondents who consider outward emigration of Hungarians a bigger problem than the arrival of refugees moved to 54-39 percent, a marked contrast from data collected two years ago.

Finally, the poll shows that a recently concluded propaganda campaign conducted and financed by the Hungarian government managed to successfully mobilize public opinion against Hungarian-born American financier and philanthropist George Soros.

When asked in April whether Soros poses a threat to Hungary, 37 percent of respondents said they believed he did compared to 43 percent who thought he didn’t. By July, after the six-week campaign which was widely criticized as anti-Semitic and hate-mongering, 43 percent said Soros posed a threat to Hungary compared to 35 percent which thought he did not.

Source: The Budapest Beacon

Republished with permission