CIS - Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas

• According to the CIS survey on "Ideology and Polarization," 66.6% believe the state should be responsible for everyone's well-being.
• Regarding territorial organization, 26.3% support the current formula: a State with autonomous communities.
• 51.9% say they feel as Spanish as they do from their autonomous community.
• 63.9% are slightly or not at all bothered by their son or daughter marrying someone with a different ideology than their own.

The CIS conducted a survey on ideology and polarization. People can define themselves in many ways, with 94.5% of respondents stating that they most identify with people of their own gender; 91.8% with those of their sexual orientation; 88.5% with those of their cultural origin; and 84.7% with their social class.

63.3% of respondents “strongly or somewhat” agree that success in life depends more on personal effort than on the family they were born into, 59.5% “strongly or somewhat” agree with the statement that taxes should be lowered, which will create more money to invest and consume, and 57.4% “strongly or somewhat” agree that the government should spend more on social benefits and public services, even if this means paying more taxes.

Taxes

58.8% agree that taxes are necessary for the State to provide public services, 23.4% believe that taxes are something the State forces us to pay without really knowing what in return, and 16.4% affirm that taxes are a means to better redistribute wealth in society.

Inequalities in Spain

46.8% say that Spain is a country with significant inequalities in general, 45.6% say that Spain has significant inequalities in some areas but not in others, and 6.6% say that there are few social inequalities.

Feminism and environmental protection

63.9% strongly agree or agree that the feminist movement is necessary to achieve equality between men and women, and 59% strongly agree or agree that environmental protection should be prioritized, even if this leads to lower economic growth and job losses.

State Responsibility

66.6% believe the State should be responsible for everyone's well-being, 17.4% believe citizens should be responsible for their own well-being, and 13.7% say the State should only be responsible for the well-being of the most disadvantaged citizens.

Territorial organization and identities

26.3% support the current formula: a state with autonomous communities; 23.8% believe the best option would be a state in which the autonomous communities have less autonomy than at present; 18.5% say the best option would be a state in which the autonomous communities have greater autonomy than at present; and 15.1% want a state with a single central government without autonomous communities.

51.9% say they feel as Spanish as they feel from their autonomous community, 14.7% say they feel solely Spanish, 13.5% more from the community than Spanish, and 10.2% more Spanish.

And 63.6% of those surveyed say that what most influences their political opinions is “their own experience and judgment,” and 10% acknowledge that “the academic training they received” at school and university has also had an influence.

Polarization

Respondents are fairly tolerant of having neighbors or classmates with different ideologies. 74.2% say they are not bothered by having neighbors with a different ideology; 73.3% say they also don't mind the ideology of their coworkers or classmates; and 63.9% are slightly or not at all bothered by the ideology of their children's partners being different from their own.

The data collected in the survey on culture and lifestyles was conducted from October 11 to 21 with a sample of 3,928 interviews. It is available to all media on the website of the Center for Sociological Research (www.cis.es).

Press release