More than half of Romanians (53%) are mistrustful of Hungarians, according to the latest survey published by IRES, the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy. The survey, commissioned by the CNDC (National Council for Combating Discrimination), revealed that discrimination is seen as a problem by the majority of the population (71%), and that 63% consider it manifests at a high level in Romanian society.
An interesting fact revealed by the survey conducted via phone was that Romanian distrust is also high towards homosexuals (74%), Roma (72%), immigrants (69%), and people infected with AIDS (58%). But if you are unemployed, you also look suspicious, according to the data published by the institute: 55% of Romanians distrust jobless people.
Almost half of Romanians (46%) believe they are superior to others, although not perfect, which suggests once again a limited and closed ethnocentrism marked by the fear of difference/diversity, the study concludes. More than two-thirds of Romanians disagree with marriage between gay couples, and 60% consider Muslims as potentially dangerous people. Nationalism is necessary, according to almost half of the Romanians surveyed by the IRES.
What the figures show is an alarmingly high level of fear and prejudice of everything that is not typical Romanian Orthodox, heterosexual and nationalist, which provides a fertile ground for hate speech and denial of classical liberal values.
The current results contrast with an earlier study conducted in 2011, when the Romanian trust level of Hungarians was at 63%. The highest trust percentage was among Roma (100%). Mistrust among Moldavians was the highest at 29.8%, followed by Romanians living in the Muntenia region (also known in English as Greater Wallachia), at 24.9%. The lowest distrust against Hungarians was recorded in the Transylvania and Banat regions, at 18.9%.
The latest results are based on a survey involving 1300 respondents aged 18 and above fielded between November 26 and December 10, 2018. The error margin is roughly 2.7%.
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