Trust in President Petr Pavel
Petr Pavel began his term with a relatively strong public trust of 3 in 5 (60%). More than a year later, Pavel still enjoys the support of slightly more than half of the citizens (53%). Pavel is still trusted by a clear majority of his own voters (a year ago, this was almost an absolute majority of his voters; the value has lowered only slightly to 88%). On the contrary, he is trusted only little by voters of his opponent Andrej Babiš (20%) and by non-voters (38%).
“Do you have trust in President Petr Pavel?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy (“Trends”) 05/2023, 05/2024
The level of trust in President Pavel varies significantly across socio-demographic groups. Among young people up to 29 years of age, 63% trust the President, whereas among people over 60 years of age, only 43% trust him. The level of trust towards the President increases with the level of education and with a favourable assessment of the respondent’s household’s economic situation.
“Do you have trust in President Petr Pavel?” – by age and education level (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2023, 05/2024
Trust in the president can also be compared in the context of the level of trust of the previous three presidents. Like his predecessors at the beginning of their first terms, Petr Pavel reversed the downward trend in trust in the head of state. Further developments will show whether the current weakening of trust represents a fluctuation or a trend.
“Do you have trust in the President?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 1993–2024
Role of the president
According to a significant majority of the Czech public, the president should be non-partisan and should not be associated with political parties. This opinion is held most often by people over 60 years of age (66% agree definitely, 92% agree in total) and least often by young people under 29 (36% agree definitely, 79% agree in total).
“Do you think the president ought to be consistently non-partisan, that is, he should act completely independent of political parties?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2024
Three in five citizens (59%) want the president to have stronger executive powers. This view is more common among people with lower levels of education (67% among people with elementary and vocational education).
“In your opinion, would it be good for our political system to have a strong president with extensive executive powers?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2024
More than two-thirds of citizens (69%) believe that the office of the President is associated with special respect and esteem and is different to other constitutional offices in this regard. People with high school Maturita-level education (71%) and a university degree (78%) are more likely to hold this view. Conversely, people from less well-off households (39%) are more likely to believe that the office of the president is the same as other constitutional functions.
“According to some people, the office of the President is associated with great respect and esteem in our country, while according to others, it is no different to other constitutional offices. Which of these views do you lean towards?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2024
On the question of what the president should primarily be concerned with in his work, that is, whether he should address more current and practical political issues or focus more on the promotion of values and morality, Czech society is split down the middle, with only a slight majority favouring the focus on values. Those with a university education (60%) and those over 60 (59%) are more likely to say the president should focus on a more values-based agenda.
“According to some people, the president should focus more on practical and current political issues, while others believe he should focus more on morality and values in politics, that is, more timeless issues. Which of these views do you lean towards?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2024
Furthermore, the public believes that the president should serve more as a watchdog of the rules of political competition, rather than actively advocating for bringing the government and the opposition together. Compared to last year’s survey, the view that the president should act more as a facilitator between the government and the opposition has strengthened slightly (by five percentage points, 2023: 33%). Compared to President Miloš Zeman’s second term, the demand for a facilitating role has further strengthened (2022: 30%).
“According to some people, the president should try to actively bridge the government and the opposition, while others think he should intervene in their disputes only rarely and rather focus on ensuring the rules of political competition are upheld. Which of these views do you lean towards?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2024
The office of the president is now seen by most as a representative one rather than people expecting the president to actively serve the citizens of the state. Two-thirds of the population (66%) are of this opinion, the same as a year ago. It is unknown to what extent the presidency of Miloš Zeman, whose actions during his second term were perceived critically by most of the public, still affects these perceptions.
“According to some people, the office of president should be primarily a service to the country’s citizens, while others believe it should be primarily a representative office. Which of these views do you lean towards?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2024
In a long-term comparison, we can observe this change in the graph below, where it can be seen that previously, the office of the President was perceived significantly differently, and the increase in the demand for greater representativeness compared to pure service only began after the introduction of the direct election of the presidential office in 2013 (before that, the president had been elected by a joint session of the parliament).
“According to some people, the office of president should be primarily a service to the citizens of the country, while others believe it should be primarily a representative office. Which of these views do you lean towards?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 1997-2024
Evaluation of Pavel’s performance as president
One year after the previous STEM survey, we can observe how the assessment of Petr Pavel’s performance in the presidency changes in its respective aspects.
Citizens consistently believe that President Pavel does not interfere much in the country’s politics, with almost two-thirds of the population (65%) having this opinion, a similar proportion to a year ago (67%). This assessment is different from the public’s opinion of Pavel’s predecessor; at the beginning of his second presidential term, half of the public thought that Miloš Zeman was too involved in the country’s politics.
The attitude that Pavel does not interfere in domestic political events is more common among people with a university education (72%) and younger people (18-29 years old: 74%, 30-44 years old: 72%). At the same time, people who are worse off are more likely to feel that Pavel interferes too much in politics and public affairs.
“Do you think that President Petr Pavel interferes too much in the national politics?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2023, 05/2024
Furthermore, we observe a stable split in the public’s opinion on whether Pavel should have greater influence in Czech political life. Similar to a year ago, half of the people would like to see the president have more influence. In comparison, a minority of the public (38%) wanted Miloš Zeman to have more influence in 2019 (this was before the beginning of the covid pandemic, as well as before the 2021 parliamentary election).
“Do you think President Petr Pavel should have more influence in our political life?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2023, 05/2024
Almost three-quarters of the public appreciate Pavel’s activities abroad, with 73% considering him a good representative of the country. Compared to the perception of Miloš Zeman in this regard, the assessment of Petr Pavel is clearly better, with only 46% of the population considering Zeman to be a good representative of the country abroad in January 2019.
Apart from the positive evaluation of Petr Pavel by people who voted for him in the second round of the 2023 presidential election, more than half of non-voters and two-fifths of the voters of the opposing candidate Andrej Babiš also evaluate Pavel’s performance abroad positively.
“Do you think that President Petr Pavel is a good representative of the Czech Republic abroad?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2023, 05/2024
According to more than half of the public (55%), Petr Pavel has also contributed to raising the respect towards the office of the President. A year ago, the proportion of people with this opinion was higher, but this is related to the fact that Pavel took over the presidency from his critically perceived predecessor Zeman. Nowadays, people with higher education (high school with Maturita exam: 60%, university education: 68%) are more likely to give Pavel credit for raising the esteem of the presidential office.
“Do you think that President Petr Pavel has significantly contributed to raising the respect towards the office of the President?” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2023, 05/2024
The proportion of people who think that Petr Pavel has made a significant contribution to raising the esteem of the presidency is comparable to the ratings of presidents Václav Havel and Václav Klaus. On the other hand, this proportion contrasts with the assessment of the contribution of Miloš Zeman, who brought about various scandals during his presidency, which diminished the esteem of the office in the eyes of the public.
A significant contribution to raising the respect towards the office of the President
Evaluation of the respective presidents (% of “definitely yes” and “rather yes”)
Source: STEM – Trendy 2000-2024
The last charts show Pavel’s performance as rated by the public using Czech school grades. In Czech schools, children are awarded grades from 1 to 5, with 1 standing for excellent performance and 5 marking a failure. Pavel’s performance abroad is the highest rated (56% of citizens gave this area a 1 or a 2). Pavel also received positive grades in communication with the media (50%), communication with the government (47%) and work in the regions (43%). He received worse grades on communication with the opposition (only 34% gave a 1 or 2) and his choice of advisors (33%), where the public seems to reflect the significant fluctuation among the staff of the presidential administration.
In general, however, Petr Pavel is rated well, with none of the areas surveyed significantly above the middle-of-the-way grade 3. Thus we can state that Petr Pavel’s activity in the public sphere is still relatively well and widely accepted.
“Now imagine that you had the opportunity to evaluate President Petr Pavel’s work so far in various areas using school grades:” (in %)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2024
A comparison with the assessment from May 2023 shows only a slight decline in the average grades for the examined aspects of Pavel’s work. A slightly more significant change is observed only in the area of the selection of co-workers, which is now the relatively lowest-rated area with an average mark of 3.1.
Rating of Petr Pavel from May 2023 and 2024 (average values from a rating scale of 1 to 5, comma used as a decimal point)
Source: STEM – Trendy 05/2023, 05/2024
The cited research by the STEM research institute (www.stem.cz) was carried out on a representative sample of the Czech population aged 18 and older between 9 and 18 May 2024. 1,053 respondents answered the survey in a combination of online and face-to-face interviews (CAWI+CAPI). The report also uses data from other surveys of the Trendy (“Trends”) regular survey, which are conducted using the same methodology on a sample of about 1,000 respondents.
