Survey: 90 Percent of Hungarians Against Illegal Migration

A new survey in Hungary has found overwhelming support for curbing mass illegal migration, as nine out of ten citizens directly oppose illegal migrants entering the country.

Hungary has been one of the most critical nations of the mass migration policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Hungarian government was one of the first European Union (EU) member states to enforce their border against the massive waves of migrants coming from Turkey and Greece via the Balkan route.

While the attitudes of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government have been evident through their administration, the question of the attitude of the Hungarian people has also been answered in a new survey which shows enormous support for Mr. Orbán’s policies, reports Hungary Today.

The survey released on Tuesday, which was conducted by the Századvég Foundation, used a sample of 2,004 Hungarian citizens and asked them their attitudes on illegal migrants entering the central European state. The results showed that some 90 per cent of those surveyed said they were totally against illegal migration.

The results will likely give Prime Minister Orbán confidence in his migrant policies which have been some of the strictest of any European Union (EU) member state, yet have also resulted in the most dramatic decrease in illegal border crossings.

The survey also asked respondents about the EU’s plan to redistribute asylum seekers across the political bloc, a move that has been heavily resisted by Hungary and its fellow Visegrad (V4) states Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Seventy-one percent of the respondents agreed with the V4 countries and totally reject the idea of the redistribution of migrants.  Barely half, 56 per cent, said they had confidence that the EU could be successful in aiding migrants in their home countries or EU transit countries. Eighty-six per cent claimed that international cooperation was a prerequisite for the distribution of any aid to the migrants.

The reasons for the negative response to migrants could be explained by the answers to other questions put forth by the Századvég Foundation who asked people of their experiences with migrants themselves. While only a quarter of all those asked had actually come into contact with migrants personally, of those who had the response was largely negative. Three quarters of those who had contact with migrants said they came away from the experience negatively and 10 per cent said migrants directly harassed them in some way.

Aside from direct contact with migrants, the participants were asked where they received their news about the migrant crisis. While it comes as little surprise that most Hungarians read Hungarian media, around one sixth of Hungarians read media from foreign outlets. Breitbart London has specifically been cited for migrant crisis coverage in at least one major Hungarian publication.

The Hungarian government has praised the Brexit result and announced that they will be holding a referendum on accepting migrants on October the 2nd, the same day as the re-run of the Austrian presidential election.