Poland: Public attitudes towards community sponsorship and other asylum and refugee policies

This publication presents the findings of a nationwide survey on the attitudes of Poles towards community sponsorship and other asylum and refugee policies, as well as the potential for individuals in Poland to engage in community sponsorship initiatives.

Community sponsorship (CS) - defined as a programme allowing private individuals, organisations and churches to accept refugees and take responsibility for meeting their basic needs - enjoys the highest level of social support among all refugee admission solutions, with 39% of respondents in favour. Support for other CS-like initiatives was found to be slightly lower when refugees are to be sponsored by universities (nearly 39%), employers (34%), or their family members (31%). In comparison, 33% respondents said they support accepting refugees who were first registered at the Polish border, while 34% back the reception of refugees within the framework of the EU relocation programme (or, alternatively, providing financial support for countries accepting relocated refugees). However, the majority of Poles oppose accepting refugees by either building barriers at the border (59%), using force against migrants (49%), or supporting refugees outside Europe, near conflict zones (54%).

Although the percentage of people expressing support for community sponsorship is relatively high, it has dropped by almost half compared with 2022, shortly after Russia's invasion on Ukraine. This decline can be attributed to so-called "assistance fatigue" and the general decrease in support for accepting people displaced from Ukraine over time, which initially exceeded 90%. The largest group of respondents express a willingness to engage in spending time with refugees (34%), assisting with education or childcare (32%), while fewer are willing to provide accommodation (15%) or financial support for basic needs (25%). Those who declare willingness to get involved in some forms of support as part of community sponsorship tend to be residents of medium and large cities and those with higher levels of education.

The survey was conducted by Ipsos in the second half of October 2024, among a representative sample of 1 000 Poles aged 15 and above.