In its regular surveys, CBOS monitors adult Poles’ opinions on the activities of parliament and the president, while twice a year it assesses a larger number of public institutions. In the latest edition of the survey, conducted in the second half of September this year, the police was also among the institutions assessed.

The survey results indicate that 69% of respondents currently rate the police as an institution positively, while 18% have reservations about it. Compared with March 2015, ratings of the police increased by 4 percentage points.

In the latest edition of the survey, the police ranks second among the twenty-one institutions assessed. Only the activities of local government authorities are rated higher. According to CBOS, 71% of respondents positively assess the work of local governments in their locality—an increase of 4 percentage points since March—while 20% rate it negatively. These are not only the best ratings for local authorities during the current term, but, as CBOS emphasizes, among the best recorded in the last eighteen years.

It is worth noting that the police is rated more than twice as positively as the other institutions of the justice system, namely the courts and the prosecution service.

According to CBOS surveys, the image of the justice system and law-enforcement bodies is not among the best. Positive assessments of the functioning of the courts and the prosecution service remain in the minority (27% and 26%, respectively). Meanwhile, nearly half of Poles speak negatively about the work of the courts (46%, down 6 percentage points since March), while 37% do so about the prosecution service (down 3 percentage points).

After somewhat poorer ratings in March this year, opinions of the military’s functioning improved in September. It is currently rated positively by 69% of respondents, 7 percentage points more than in March. Four percent of those surveyed hold the opposite view, while 27% had no opinion.

The deterioration in assessments of the Roman Catholic Church recorded in March this year continues. As six months ago, slightly more than half of Poles (53%) speak positively about the functioning of the Church as an institution, while one-third (33%) express a negative opinion. Responses of “difficult to say” were omitted from this survey.

Over the past six months, the number of respondents expressing a positive view of the work of the CBA decreased by 5 percentage points, to 30%. The share of people expressing disapproval of the institution did not change significantly (17%), while 53% were unable to express an opinion on the subject.

Compared with the previous measurement, the Supreme Audit Office’s ratings deteriorated; opinions of the Constitutional Tribunal and the institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights remain relatively stable. Although the activities of the Supreme Audit Office are still rated positively more often (38%) than negatively (22%), since March there has been a significant decline in approval (by 11 percentage points) and an increase in disapproval (by 8 percentage points).

Thirty-nine percent of respondents rate the activities of the Constitutional Tribunal positively (3 percentage points fewer than in March), while 12% rate them negatively. Forty percent of Poles express positive opinions about the work of the Commissioner for Human Rights (down 4 percentage points), while 10% (down 3 percentage points) take a critical view of it.

The CBOS survey was conducted from September 17 to 23 this year on a representative random sample of 972 adult residents of Poland.

What do you think? We invite you to join the discussion.

Research and Analysis Department of the Police Headquarters Office/KGP/PAP/ii