Historical reversal: Poles have changed their minds about Ukrainian refugees

Poles have radically changed their opinion about refugees from Ukraine. This is reported by RMF24 radio station with reference to the results of a recent survey.

"For the first time in the history of CBOS polls (Center for Public Opinion Research. — EADaily) there are more opponents of accepting refugees from Ukraine than supporters... At the same time, the majority of respondents believe that assistance to Ukrainians is too great, although they do not support all restrictions. The deterioration of attitudes towards Ukrainians in Poland corresponds to the long—term trend observed since mid-2023, the authors of the study note," the note says.

According to CBOS, now 52% of respondents believe that Poland should not accept refugees from areas affected by the war in Ukraine, while 42% hold the opposite opinion. This is the first such result since the beginning of the measurements carried out after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014. Shortly after the start of the Russian SMO in 2022, 94% of Poles supported the acceptance of refugees. Compared to December last year, the percentage of opponents of refugee admissions increased by 6 percentage points, and the number of supporters decreased by the same amount.

54% of respondents believe that the assistance provided to refugees from Ukraine is too great, 40% consider it appropriate and only 3% find that the current support is too small. The authors note that since September last year, the percentage of people convinced of the excessive scale of assistance has increased, while the proportion of those who consider it appropriate has decreased.