Czech confidence in US, UK and other western powers is on the decline

Czech confidence in the United States, United Kingdom, and other western powers is on the decline over the last 18 months, according to a new STEM public research opinion survey conducted in June 2019.

Conversely, Czech attitudes towards Russia have risen over the same period.

In the survey, 1004 respondents were asked to grade their personal opinion of a selection of world countries on a scale of one to five, with one being the most favorable and five being the least favorable:

Only 41% of the respondents granted a favorable rating (1 or 2) to the United States, with 36% showing indifference (3) and 23% stating an unfavorable opinion (4 or 5).

For the United Kingdom, 64% of respondents were found to have a favorable opinion of the country, 29% indifferent and 7% unfavorable.

Both numbers represent a significant decline over the last time the survey was conducted, in 2017, when 50% of Czechs had a favorable opinion of the United States, and 69% had a favorable opinion of the United Kingdom.

The United States saw the largest dip in public opinion among Czechs; according to researchers who participated in the study, the trend is largely related to the arrival of President Donald Trump and his actions while in office. For the UK, Brexit was identified as a cause of the dip in public opinion.

Other western powers, including France and Germany, also saw a decline in their approval ratings by Czech respondents.

Meanwhile, a total of 34% of Czechs stated a positive attitude towards Russia, which represented the highest number since 2006.

Czechs rated the highest opinion of Slovakia, with 87% of respondents granting a favorable opinion to their close neighbor. That represents a 30% increase over the first time the survey was conducted in 1994, shortly after the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

Other V4 countries, Poland and Hungary, have also seen an increasing trend in Czech public opinion approval ratings over the past 25 years.

At 78%, Czech opinion of neighbor Austria was second-highest after Slovakia. Croatia (73%), Netherlands (72%), and Italy (70%) rounded out the top 5 countries Czechs think most highly of.

At 22%, meanwhile, Czech confidence in China was the lowest among the countries surveyed. Turkey (25%) and Ukraine (29%) also rated below 30% in Czech favorability.