Since the mid-1990s, the STEM Research Institute has regularly monitored the relationship of the Czech population towards selected countries in Europe and the world. Survey participants were asked to use Czech school grades to express their attitudes towards the selected countries. In Czech schools, children are awarded grades from 1 to 5, with 1 standing for excellent performance and 5 marking a failure. In addition, STEM also asks people how they feel about selected foreign statespersons. Data from a representative survey conducted in mid-June 2024 show that attitudes towards foreign countries remain basically unchanged among the Czech public, although with a few exceptions.
Slovakia, which regularly ranks first in popularity rankings, has slightly deteriorated in its rating, and Austria has caught up in the number of people rating it with a 1 or a 2. Both countries are given the two top marks by 71%. A year ago, Slovakia received a favourable rating from 75% of the population. A change of similar magnitude can be seen in the proportion of people rating Slovakia with a four or five, which rose by three percentage points from 6 to 9 per cent. Austria, on the other hand, has slightly improved its overall score, thus moving up in the ranking of countries.
Switzerland came in third place (68% of 1s and 2s), followed by Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands (all received 64% approval). About three-fifths of Czechs also rate Denmark, Norway, Canada, Sweden, Croatia, and the UK positively. Slovenia, France, Germany, Belgium and Japan are also viewed positively by more than 50%. Around two-fifths of the population have a good attitude towards Hungary, the US, Lithuania, and Taiwan. Support is lower for Serbia (33% of 1s and 2s), Israel (29%) and Turkey (26%). The countries of China (19%), Russia (15%), and, from the last place, Palestine (12%) no longer reach at least a quarter of the 1s and 2s in the ratings. For Palestine, which ranked last a year ago as well, the proportion of people rating it with a “neutral” 3 has fallen from 41 per cent to 30 per cent. The proportion of 1s and 2s remained similar, and the proportion of 4s and 5s increased (from 44 to 58 per cent). This result appears to reflect the greater public attention given to the region caused by the escalation of security and humanitarian issues. Russia remains a specific country in the data. As in the previous year, the lowest number of people gave it the middling 3 (20%), but the highest number of people gave it the negative 4s and 5s (65%).
“The following list contains the names of various countries. Use school grades to rate how favourably or unfavourably you feel about these countries. A one (1) indicates the best relationship, a five (5) the worst.”
Source: STEM – Trendy (“Trends” regular survey) 06/2024
Average grades for countries
Comparing the average grades the countries received from people gives us another insight. In almost all cases, the grades haven’t changed by more than 0.1 since 2023. The exceptions are Palestine (a deterioration by 0.3), and Israel and Ukraine (a deterioration by 0.2).
Slovakia remains first with an average grade of 2.0. It is followed, as in 2023, by Switzerland, which also has a score of 2.0 after rounding the results to one decimal place. Czechs have the worst attitude towards Russia (score of 3.9) – this has not changed since the last survey.
“The following list contains the names of various countries. Use school grades to rate how favourably or unfavourably you feel about these countries. A one (1) indicates the best relationship, a five (5) the worst.” – average values; year-to-year changes of more than 0.1 marked in bold; please note that a higher score indicates a worse opinion
Relationship to Ukraine and Russia
Like in 2023, the share of sympathies felt towards Ukraine has decreased compared to the previous year. Positive attitudes first increased in 2022 in the aftermath of the Russian invasion. In April 2022, 36% of Czechs rated Ukraine with a 1 or a 2, but by June 2023, the level sank back to 33% and 29% in July 2024. The values have, therefore, returned almost to the level before the invasion began.
Attitudes towards Russia have not changed significantly since last year. In 2023, the proportion of positive marks rose slightly compared to the highly negative year of 2022, but in 2024, the value changed by only one percentage point in a year-to-year comparison, which is negligible.
“The following list contains the names of various countries. Use school grades to rate how favourably or unfavourably you feel about these countries. A one (1) indicates the best relationship, a five (5) the worst.” – Ukraine and Russia, share of 1s and 2s in %
Source: STEM – Trendy 2013–2024
Grading of major powers
The relationship with major regional and world powers has also not changed significantly since last year. Germany, France, and Great Britain are supported by between 55 and 60 per cent of the Czech population (this is the proportion of those who gave a grade of 1 or 2). This is a change of just one percentage point in all three cases since last year. In comparison, the United States have relatively lower support, however, positive attitudes towards the country have increased by two percentage points since June 2023 to 44 per cent.
Regarding long-term trends, Germany is the best-performing of the major Western allies in Czech public opinion. The country was perceived relatively negatively in the early 1990s, while now, it is the only country from this selection with a significantly more favourable rating today than in the 90s. By contrast, the US and France have seen the most significant rating drops. Both are now seen positively by around 30 percentage points fewer people than at their historical peak. For France, this is a steady decline, while attitudes towards the US have fluctuated over time. This can be seen clearly in the attached chart.
“The following list contains the names of various countries. Use school grades to rate how favourably or unfavourably you feel about these countries. A one (1) indicates the best relationship, a five (5) the worst.” – Germany, France, the UK, and the US, share of 1s and 2s in %
Source: STEM – Trendy 1994–2024
Attitudes to foreign politicians
As in last year, outgoing Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová did best among foreign politicians. 68% of people rate her positively now, which is even slightly more than last year (65%). The Czech public is not so supportive of the new Slovak president, Petr Pellegrini, with 38 per cent of participants expressing a favourable opinion of him.
Pope Francis also received an overwhelmingly positive response (62%). French President Emmanuel Macron (48%) and Polish President Andrzej Duda (45%) fell just short of the 50% mark. US President Joe Biden (41%) also received more than 40% support.
Compared to last year, the perception of the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky has worsened by eight percentage points to 38%. Declines of around five percentage points are seen for outgoing British Prime Minister Sunak and German Chancellor Scholz. Vladimir Putin is the politician with the most negative perceptions in the long term. His support is precisely the same as last year, at 13 per cent.
“Please state your opinion of the following foreign political figures.”
Source: STEM – Trendy 06/2024
Comparing the trends of the support for selected foreign politicians, we can see that the attitudes of Czechs towards German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have cooled. In June 2024, he was approved by 36%, which is four percentage points less than a year ago. The popularity of US President Biden and Russian President Putin has not changed since last year.
“Please state your opinion of the following foreign political figures.” – sum of “very favourable” and “somewhat favourable” in %
Source: STEM – Trendy 2008–2024
The cited research of the STEM Research Institute (www.stem.cz) was carried out on a representative sample of the Czech population aged 18 years and older on 10–17 June 2024. 1,032 respondents answered the questions in a combination of online and face-to-face interviews (CAWI+CAPI).
