The return of compulsory basic military service? Compared to a few months ago – Poles are now far less optimistic about the idea, according to the latest poll conducted by IBRiS.
Missing “roaming” mines crisscrossing Poland. Mysterious (sometimes fatal) accidents during training exercises. Drones violating Polish airspace. Time and again, new scandals involving documentation that ends up, for example, in the trash. The failure to implement key agreements and contracts. A still tense international situation. These are just a few examples of recent media reports concerning the military and the Ministry of National Defence (MON), headed by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
However, as the results of the IBRiS survey for Rzeczpospolita show, all of this affects public sentiment.
Poles don’t want to serve in the army
According to the poll conducted by IBRiS for Rzeczpospolita, only 39.2 percent of respondents support reinstating compulsory military service in Poland in light of the current international situation. Opposed to this solution are 45.5 percent of those surveyed, while 15.2 percent have no opinion on the matter.
For comparison, in the IBRiS survey conducted in March, as many as 55 percent of respondents expressed support for bringing back compulsory military service, 35.8 percent were against it, and 9.1 percent had no opinion.
Analyzing the results, it is clear that the main supporters of reinstating compulsory military service are voters of the current government, people over the age of 70 (59 percent), and residents of small villages (42 percent). A similar level of support — 39 percent — was recorded among people with primary, secondary, and higher education. Their main source of information about international affairs is Wydarzenia Polsatu (52 percent). Politically, they tend to lean left — in the last parliamentary elections they voted for the New Left (53 percent), and in the presidential elections for Magdalena Biejat (61 percent).
Meanwhile, opponents of reinstating compulsory military service are mainly those who did not participate in the elections (50 percent), women (49 percent), people around the age of 30 (59 percent), and members of Generation Z (58 percent) — those who could potentially be drafted. Among them, residents of large cities (54 percent) and people with higher education (52 percent) predominate. Their main source of information about the world is TVP Info (in liquidation) (58 percent), and they tend to place themselves in the political center (49 percent). In the autumn 2023 parliamentary elections, they mostly voted for Third Way (61 percent), while in the presidential elections they supported Szymon Hołownia (82 percent).