71% Urban Indians say the European Union has made Europe stronger: Ipsos European Elections 2019 Survey

European Parliament elections are to be held between May 23-26, 2019.

Ipsos conducted a global survey to map perceptions around the European Union. 

Interestingly, Indians have a positive view of the European Project! 71% Indians bat for the European Union, credit it for making Europe stronger.

Has the EU more successes to boast of?

Indians are quite divided in their views on whether the European Project (European Union) over the last 60 years has had more successes or not: 39% Indians feel that the European Project has seen more successes than failures; 32% feel successes and failures have been the same; 10% felt failures have outnumbered successes; while 19% were undecided.

“More number of Indians have a positive view of the European Union, as it eases travel and trade for member nations. However, in general, Indians expected more success stories from EU, evident from the divided opinion on this,” says Parijat Chakraborty, Country Service Line Leader, India, Ipsos Public Affairs, Customer Experience and Corporate Reputation.         

Most positive outcomes of the European Project?

We asked EU10 Countries of Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Sweden to identify the most positive outcomes of the European Project.

Interestingly, there have been many positive outcomes: 73% feel that it is the ease of travel between European nations; 66% believe that trade between European nations is the biggest plus point of the European Project; 60% feel it is the access to a wide range of goods and services, as the most positive outcome; 59% feel the biggest advantage is the peace fostered across all nations/ members of the EU; 49% will credit democracy, human rights and rule across Europe as the biggest upside of the EU; 41% feel it has led to an improved standard of living within the country and 23% feel that immigration is within comfort levels.          

Upcoming European Parliament Elections

With uncertainty around Brexit and Reverse Brexit and the lack of a clear roadmap, disinterest is palpable among Britons, only 3 in 10 Britons (36%) are interested in the upcoming European Elections. 58% said they are not interested, while 6% were undecided.

Across the nine European countries, 5 in 10 (50%) are looking forward to the upcoming elections with interest.

What Should be EU’s priorities in the coming years?

Surprise! Managing Britain’s exit from EU (Brexit) is way below in the pecking order – only 9% have chosen it.

The top priorities enlisted are: reducing poverty and social inequality (46%); fighting organized crime and terrorism (37%); protecting the environment (37%); creating economic growth and jobs (36%); reducing illegal immigration from outside the European Union (36%); fighting tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance (27%); developing renewable energy (26%); reducing energy consumption and emissions (24%); protecting the safety of the food we eat (20%); investing in high quality education (18%); investing in science, technology and innovation (17%); dealing with problems caused by the ageing of the society (13%); reducing bureaucracy for businesses (12%); Increasing EU’s accountability and legitimacy (11%); protecting people’s privacy online 10%); fighting instability in regions bordering the EU; managing Britain’s exit from the European Union (9%) and Making it easier to buy online from any country in the European Union (4%).      

Methodology

These are the findings of the Global Advisor Wave for the 2019 European Parliament Elections, an Ipsos survey conducted between March 22-April 5, 2019.

The survey instrument is conducted monthly in 28 countries around the world via the Ipsos Online Panel system. The countries reporting herein are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America.

For the results of the survey presented herein, an international sample of 19,531 adults aged 18-74 years in the US, Israel, Canada, China, Malaysia, South Africa and Turkey, and ages 16-74 years in all other countries, were interviewed. Approximately 1000+ individuals participated on a country by country basis via the Ipsos Online Panel, with the exception of Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Hungary, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey, where each have a sample approximately 500+.

15 of the 27 countries surveyed online generate nationally representative samples in their countries (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and United States).

Brazil, China, Chile, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey produce a national sample that is more urban & educated, and with higher incomes than their fellow citizens.  We refer to these respondents as “Upper Deck Consumer Citizens”.  They are not nationally representative of their country.

Base for EU10 was 7511, aged 16-64 years, across Belgium, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Sweden was Serbia. Though Serbia is not a part of the EU.

Weighting was then employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to the most recent country Census data, and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of +/-3.1 percentage points for a sample of 1,000 and an estimated margin of error of +/- 4.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20 per country of what the results would have been had the entire population of adults in that country had been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.