Support for aid to Ukrainians among Poles has significantly decreased - more and more respondents indicate that the change in their relations is connected with the "demanding position" of refugees.
These are the conclusions of the latest study of public perception of Ukrainian refugees and migrants, conducted at the end of May - beginning of June by the Research Laboratory of the University of Warsaw and the Academy of Economics and Humanities in Warsaw, Rzeczpospolita reports.
The reduction in support applies to almost all forms of assistance to Ukrainians, except for education.
"We still want to help, 85% of respondents are convinced of this, but not as decisively and unconditionally as a year ago or even in January of this year," explains Robert Stanishevskyi, project manager.
In just five months, the group of those who believe that Poland should help Ukraine during the war has decreased from 62% to 42%. Even fewer Poles – now 35% – have a unequivocally positive attitude towards the aid provided by Poland; in January, there were 47% of such people.
A quarter of Poles say an unequivocal "no" to additional aid to Ukraine. In addition, the percentage of those who strongly support helping refugees in Poland fell from 49% to 28%.
The group of those who want Ukrainians to return to their country after the end of the war is also growing - this opinion is already expressed by about 70% of Poles (in January 2023, it was 53%).
The respondents' assessment of the social assistance that Poland provides to Ukrainian refugees is unequivocally bad - 60% of respondents already say "no" to equal access to benefits available to Poles, and more than half are also against the provision of benefits (37% a year ago) and food financing. residence of Ukrainians (was 20%).
39.4% of respondents noted that they have changed their attitude towards Ukrainians, most often citing their "demanding attitude" as the reason. "Most often, the respondents explained this with the phrase 'everything should be free for them,'" explains Stanishevskyi.
Another 14.5% noted that "Ukrainians have more rights than Poles." According to Myroslav Skurka, the president of the Association of Ukrainians in Poland, this is "the result of anti-Ukrainian opinions spreading in social networks", which are not suppressed by anyone.
