CBOS poll: Poland safe despite eastern crisis
Seventy-seven percent of Poles in a CBOS survey said Poland was a safe country, whereby 67 percent saw it as "rather safe" and 10 percent as "decidedly safe". Twenty-one percent claimed the opposite.
Asked about possible security threats, most named domestic issues like receding birth rates (51 percent), rising poverty and low living standards (48 percent) and social turmoil (35 percent). Also listed were political conflicts and the activity of radical-right groups.
Forty percent feared data theft from government agencies, 27 percent a cyber attack on the government, 34 percent rising crime. Also listed as endangerments were radical political organisations (21 percent) and the fall of the present government (14 percent).
Twenty-nine percent feared energy supply troubles due to international tension, also 29 percent a serious financial and economic crisis in Europe and the world. Twenty-four percent named mass migration to Poland, 19 percent a European war, 16 percent a military attack on the country, also 16 percent a terrorist attack, 9 percent a nuclear attack, 5 percent loss of independence, also 5 percent territorial loss.
Nineteen percent feared an epidemic, 14 percent an ecological disaster.
Asked about Poland's security mainstays, 89 percent named the government, 87 percent the army, also 87 percent NATO, 86 percent the EU, 82 percent the intelligence services, 77 percent the United States, 76 percent the police. Fifty-five percent claimed all Poles answered for their country's security.
As the main security factors 92 percent named a modern army, 88 percent NATO membership, 86 percent economic growth, 82 percent energy diversification, 79 percent public confidence in the government, 72 percent civic society, 62 percent democracy, 17 percent cultural and ethnical diversity (opposed by 52 percent).
Sixty-four percent believed Poland's independence was unthreatened, 26 percent disagreed. The most frequently-named sovereignty threat was Russia.
CBOS noted that confidence in Poland's security was at its highest since the late 1980s. According to the agency the reason was that the Ukraine crisis made Poles appreciate their security situation.
CBOS ran the survey on November 6-16 on a random sample of 934 adult Poles.
Source: PAP