Poll finds Czechs like Romani people least, Slovaks most

A survey conducted in March by the Center for Public Opinion Research
(Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění – CVVM) has found that of the national
groups living in the Czech Republic, Czech people like Romani people the least
and Slovaks the most. More than four-fifths of Czechs surveyed consider Slovaks
to be congenial.

On the other hand, roughly the same proportion of Czechs surveyed harbor
antipathy toward Romani people. Relations toward various national groups in the
Czech Republic have not changed significantly compared to last year.

CVVM asked people to evaluate 16 national groups living in the Czech Republic,
Czechs included, in order to compare the responses. Czechs evaluated themselves
best, with 83 % of respondents saying they found Czechs to be congenial. Slovaks
received that exact same proportion of positive evaluations.

A far second place was taken by Polish people, whom 54 % of those surveyed
consider to be congenial. Only 2 % of those surveyed said they did not find
Czech people congenial, with 3 % of respondents saying Slovaks are not congenial
and 12 % of people saying Polish people are not congenial.

Czechs harbor the greatest antipathy toward Romani people. While 78 % of
respondents said they did not find Romani people congenial, only 4 % of
respondents said they consider Romani people congenial.

Roughly half of Czech people do not find Albanians, Romanians or Ukrainians
to be congenial either. Nine national groups are viewed neutrally by Czechs,
receiving the largest share of “neither congenial nor uncongenial” ratings.

Of those groups that tended to be neutrally rated, evaluations tended to be
positive for Bulgarian people, German people, Greek people, Hungarian people and
Jewish people, with one-fourth to one-third of respondents considering them
congenial. On the other hand, antipathy predominated in the responses about
Chinese people, Russian people, Serbian people and Vietnamese people, even
though most of the responses about them tended to reveal a neutral rating.

The survey was conducted by the CVVM from 4 – 11 March. A total of 1 059
inhabitants of the Czech Republic older than 15 years of age participated.