Two Hungarian opinion polls: the gay pride parade and political popularity
Szonda Ipsos, a Hungarian pollster, has been busy lately. Two days after the the ill-fated gay pride parade in Budapest Az Este, MTV’s late night political program, asked for a quick poll on the public’s reaction to the event.
I don’t think that the results are terribly surprising. More than two-thirds of the people blame the gays for the debacle on Saturday. According to these people the gays should not behave that “provocatively.” Only twenty-one percent of those asked think that what happened was shameful. Sixteen percent don’t know whom they should blame. About twenty percent of the people simply don’t give a hoot one way or the other. Seventy-four percent of those polled believe that the actions of the mob are motivated by hatred or that they want to create an upheaval. However, eighteen percent consider their actions acceptable, even a proper way of expressing one’s opinion. A large majority is convinced that the mob doesn’t really care whom they attack as long as it is a minority. Only fifteen percent think that the gays were the specific targets. About twenty percent of the people haven’t got the foggiest idea what the extreme right really wants.
About half of the people wouldn’t have allowed the radical counter-demonstrators near the parade, but as we know very well the police had no choice in the matter due to the less than perfect legislation concerning street demonstrations. Almost thirty percent of the people would have forbidden all demonstrations on that day. Perhaps the most telling: 75% of the people consider human dignity a more important consideration than freedom of speech.
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