STEM poll: Czechs’ rating of Václav Havel rises to 76 percent

The STEM institute has found that 76 percent of Czechs rate the presidency of Václav Havel, the country’s first president after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, positively — the poll was carried out ahead of the 90th anniversary of the politician’s birth, which the country is marking these days. By comparison, in 2002 a positive assessment was given by 71 percent of respondents.

A generational gap is clearly visible. Among young people aged 18–29, 88 percent view Havel positively, compared with just 60 percent among people over 60. At the same time, the older generation is far more likely than others to see him as responsible for most of the country’s current problems: 32 percent of those over 60 think so, against 17 percent of the population on average.

A similar pattern emerges among supporters of different political forces. Havel is popular among 95 percent of opposition supporters, but among only 62 percent of supporters of the ruling coalition parties.

“What’s interesting here are the voters of non-parliamentary parties and those who don’t vote at all — 40 percent of them consider Havel responsible for the country’s current problems,” noted STEM analyst Jiří Táborský.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz