---
title: "“Volhynia or Money”: CBOS Poll Identifies the Main Reasons Behind Poles' Worsening Attitudes Toward Ukrainians"
description: "A CBOS poll showed that Poles link the worsening of attitudes toward Ukrainians with disputes over Volhynia and social benefits. Only 7.6% see no deterioration, while 67.2% support the deportation of Ukrainian men without legal employment."
date: 2026-08-26T14:20:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/volhynia-or-money-cbos-poll-poles-worsening-attitudes-toward-ukrainians
tags: [poland, ukraine, cbos-poll, public-opinion, volhynia, social-benefits, refugees]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# “Volhynia or Money”: CBOS Poll Identifies the Main Reasons Behind Poles' Worsening Attitudes Toward Ukrainians

![A bustling street in a Polish city decorated with national flags, set against crowds of pedestrians — the backdrop of the CBOS poll on Poles' attitudes toward Ukrainians](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/26/prichiny-uhudsheniya-otnosheniya-polyakov-k-ukraincam/prichiny-uhudsheniya-otnosheniya-polyakov-k-ukraincam-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- According to CBOS data, Poles most often link the worsening of attitudes toward Ukrainians with disputes over historical memory (Volhynia) and social benefits.
- Only 7.6% of those surveyed believe that Poles' attitudes toward Ukrainians have not deteriorated at all.
- The causes of the deterioration diverge along party lines: the ruling camp and the right-conservative opposition cite different priorities.
- The survey was conducted on 17–20 August 2026 among 1,000 adult residents of Poland.
- Earlier, 67.2% of Poles supported the idea of deporting Ukrainian men without legal employment; Poland has taken in 1.73 million Ukrainian refugees.

The Center for Public Opinion Research (CBOS), commissioned by the publication Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, has published the results of a fresh survey in which Poles explained why, in their view, attitudes toward Ukrainians in the country have deteriorated. As reported by RBC-Ukraine, respondents first and foremost linked this trend to two groups of factors: disputes over historical memory — primarily over the events in Volhynia — and questions of social benefits that, in the perception of part of society, are received by Ukrainian refugees. It is precisely this combination of “history plus money” that became the main takeaway for the sociologists and is reflected in the headline of the publication itself.

### Historical memory and social benefits — two poles of perception

According to the sociologists, it was these two topics that emerged as the most frequent answers when explaining the deterioration of attitudes toward Ukrainians. On the one hand, there is the historical trauma and the disputes over the 1943 events in Volhynia, which regularly resurface in the Polish public discourse in the context of the Ukrainian theme. On the other — the economic dimension: the belief that Ukrainian refugees receive substantial social benefits and, in the view of some respondents, “compete” for resources. At the same time, according to the same data, only 7.6% of those surveyed believe that Poles' attitudes toward Ukrainians have not deteriorated at all — meaning that an overwhelming majority register a negative trend, even if they disagree on its causes.

### Contradictory data

The authors of the study emphasize a notable political division among citizens when it comes to identifying the causes of the worsening attitudes toward Ukrainians. Supporters of the ruling political camp and supporters of the right-conservative opposition set their priorities differently: in each of these groups, their own explanations dominated — from an emphasis on historical memory to an emphasis on social benefits and the “burden” on society. Thus, there is no single “official” version of the causes in society, and the public debate is in fact split along party lines. This makes the poll not merely statistics, but a cross-section of intra-Polish political struggle in which the Ukrainian theme is also involved.

### Context: deportation sentiments and a million refugees

The survey was conducted on 17–20 August 2026 using a mixed method among 1,000 adult residents of Poland. Its results should be considered in a broader context: a recent separate poll showed that 67.2% of Poles support the idea of deporting Ukrainian men who do not have legal employment in Poland. At the same time, since the start of the full-scale war, Poland has provided protection to 1.73 million Ukrainians forced to leave due to the Russian invasion. This figure makes the Ukrainian presence in Poland one of the largest in Europe and explains why the theme of refugee perception has become a persistent element of the domestic agenda.

### What this means for bilateral relations

The totality of the data indicates that the deterioration of attitudes toward Ukrainians in Poland is not a single “anti-Ukrainian” impulse, but a set of intertwined factors: historical memory, economic fears, and political competition within Polish society itself. For Kyiv, this is a signal that the Ukrainian theme in Poland is firmly embedded in local party struggle, and therefore any steps toward normalizing perception will depend not only on bilateral policy but also on intra-Polish political cycles. The next CBOS polls and the reactions of the ruling camp and the right-conservative opposition will become key indicators of how this dynamic will develop.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [Volhynia or money? The main reasons for the worsening of Poles' attitudes toward Ukrainians](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/volin-chi-groshi-golovni-prichini-pogirshennya-1787753345.html) - Первичный источник фактов: опрос CBOS по заказу Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, 7,6% не видят ухудшения, политическое разделение, 67,2% за депортацию, 1,73 млн беженцев, выборка 1000, 17–20 августа.
- [Poll: Poles note tension between Nawrocki and Tusk](https://belta.by/world/view/opros-poljaki-otmechajut-naprjazhennost-mezhdu-navrotskim-i-tuskom-768886-2026/) - Контекст внутрипольской политической напряжённости, объясняющей партийное разделение в ответах респондентов.
- [CBOS: Poles approve Nawrocki's decision to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle](https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/27947783) - Дополнительный контекст по линии CBOS и напряжённости в польско-украинском политическом взаимодействии.

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: What were the main reasons for the worsening of Poles' attitudes toward Ukrainians named in the CBOS poll?
**A:** Respondents most often linked the deterioration with disputes over historical memory (primarily Volhynia) and with questions of social benefits received by Ukrainian refugees.

### Q: How many Poles believe that attitudes toward Ukrainians have not worsened?
**A:** According to the poll, only 7.6% of those surveyed believe that Poles' attitudes toward Ukrainians have not deteriorated at all.

### Q: When and how was the survey conducted?
**A:** The CBOS poll, commissioned by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, was conducted on 17–20 August 2026 using a mixed method among 1,000 adult residents of Poland.

### Q: Is there a division of opinion along party lines?
**A:** Yes, the authors of the study note a notable political division: supporters of the ruling camp and of the right-conservative opposition set the priorities of the causes differently.

### Q: How many Ukrainian refugees has Poland taken in?
**A:** Since the start of the full-scale war, Poland has provided protection to 1.73 million Ukrainians forced to leave due to the Russian invasion.