Public sentiment remains poor even among Fidesz voters, while willingness to participate in parliamentary elections is exceptionally high – as if everyone is looking for a solution in next spring's election. The problems identified by respondents are not the same as what the government's rhetoric would emphasize: we don't fear war, we don't blame the media and international situation, while the cost of living and inflation press on almost everyone, and the state of healthcare weighs on many. Respondents under 60 would choose the Tisza party, while older respondents would choose Fidesz in greater numbers, but 20% only know they will go to vote, not who they will vote for.
The Minerva Institute conducts its telephone public opinion polls using an artificial intelligence-based robot assistant – respondents overwhelmingly perceived this solution as neutral, unusual or expressly positive. The survey conducted between July 15 and 22 was conducted as an independent research institute – without a client, according to its own professional objectives – to assess the current general mood of the Hungarian population and expectations about the future, while mapping how these feelings and opinions are distributed among different demographic groups depending on party preference.
The Minerva Institute's primary goal is to innovate research methodology through AI-based data collection. Since this approach involves methodological experimentation, it is a natural consequence that the results of the first few data collections may be characterized by somewhat greater uncertainty and variance compared to traditional research procedures. The Minerva Institute does not intend to become another public opinion polling organization, so it does not publish comprehensive analyses, but makes the results database available to anyone on its website. However, it is worth highlighting a few interesting points from the results of the fresh survey – these can provide footholds for understanding the current social mood.
One of the most striking results of the survey is that the assessment of public mood shows little variation between different social groups. The overwhelming majority of respondents – about 80 percent – rather see the public mood as bad, regardless of age, gender, education or type of settlement. The proportion of non-respondents was negligible.
Similar levels of agreement were shown in what determines public mood the most: more than half of respondents (55%) named politics as the primary factor. Far fewer mentioned the economy (15%) or the individual responsibility of society members (10%), and refusal rates were extremely low here as well.
Respondents identified two main themes as Hungary's biggest problems*, in roughly equal proportions: 27 percent cited corruption, while 25 percent cited cost of living difficulties. Women and those with lower education were much more likely to cite the latter, while men and those with higher education cited the former.
Questions about material situation showed marked differences along party preference lines. Only 50 percent of government party respondents agreed with the statement "the cost of living is a problem," while more than 80 percent of opposition respondents (94% of Tisza supporters, 82% of other opposition) agreed.
An even sharper difference emerged regarding trust in public healthcare. While 63 percent of government party respondents agreed with "if I get sick, I know I'm in good hands with public healthcare," 90 percent of Tisza supporters disagreed.
75 percent of respondents said they would certainly participate in parliamentary elections if held this coming Sunday. This is a rather high proportion, which can also be explained by the likely high correlation between response willingness and voting activity.
36 percent of all survey respondents would vote for the Tisza party, 23 percent for Fidesz, 9 percent for another party, 20 percent did not choose a party, while 12 percent of respondents would definitely not go to vote. Even accounting for methodological limitations, it can be stated that Tisza clearly leads among the parties.
It may be important, however, that 93 percent of respondents who did not choose a party would definitely or probably go to vote. This nearly one-fifth politically active but still undecided or evasive voter group could have decisive influence on the election.
According to the results, the voter bases of the two major parties are currently most differentiated by age: the Tisza Party is stronger among working-age respondents, while Fidesz is stronger among respondents over 60.
Respondents characterized four politicians in their own words: Viktor Orban, Peter Magyar, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin – responses were categorized by AI. Among the two Hungarian politicians, it is notable that Fidesz voters are much more biased toward their own leader than those who chose Tisza, and in the case of Trump and Putin, the proportion of positive descriptors is very low, mostly coming from Fidesz supporters.
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The questionnaire survey was conducted between July 15 and 22, 2025. Respondents were reached by calling randomly generated mobile telephone numbers, and the AI assistant conducting the conversation clearly signaled its robot nature at the beginning of the call. The 1,000-person sample of those 18 and older was statistically weighted based on KSH's 2022 census data, taking into account distribution by gender and age.
Due to the nature of the method – as with all random telephone surveys – the sample cannot be considered fully representative. The response willingness of age groups under 60 was lower, so the proportion of older people in the sample is higher than in reality. We corrected for this through weighting, but it is important to emphasize that distortion of this magnitude can only be partially remedied by statistical tools. The survey results therefore primarily shed light on the directions of changes in social mood and opinions, rather than providing an accurate mapping of the entire population.
*: Weighted by age and gender
The survey can be analyzed further as needed:
▶ Response database (XLSX)
▶ Cross-tabulations (XLSX)
▶ Research methodology