The attitude of Ukrainians towards Hungary has improved significantly compared to March 2026, but negative assessments still outweigh positive ones. In August, 22.9% of respondents had a positive attitude towards the country, 35.6% had a negative attitude, and another 37.4% took a neutral position. This is evidenced by the results of the third wave of the Active Group and Experts Club research, reports the information and analytical center Experts Club. Experts.news A neutral attitude was expressed by 37.4% of respondents. At the same time, 28.8% have a mostly negative attitude towards the country, 6.8% are completely negative, another 4.1% could not decide.
The balance of positive and negative assessments in August is minus 12.7 percentage points. According to this indicator, Hungary remains among the countries with a negative balance of public attitudes, however, the dynamics over the past five months have significantly changed in a positive direction. In the overall rating of the study, China had a lower balance in August — minus 25.4 percentage points. and India — minus 14.3 percentage points.
In March In 2026, the situation was noticeably more negative. At that time, 4.9% of respondents had a completely positive attitude towards Hungary, 13.8% were mostly positive, that is, 18.6% had positive assessments in total. 52.2% of respondents rated the country negatively: 34.3% mostly negatively and 17.9% completely negatively. A neutral position was held by 27.3%.
Thus, between March and August, the share of positive assessments increased by 4.3 percentage points. — from 18.6% to 22.9%, while negative ones decreased immediately by 16.6 percentage points. — from 52.2% to 35.6%. At the same time, the share of neutral responses increased by 10.1 percentage points. - up to 37.4%.
The change in the balance is even more pronounced: in March it was minus 33.6 percentage points, and in August - minus 12.7 percentage points. Thus, the gap between positive and negative evaluations decreased by 20.9 percentage points. At the same time, a significant part of the former negativity did not turn directly into positive evaluations — it was the group of respondents with a neutral attitude that increased significantly.
Director of the research company Active Group Oleksandr Pozniy, commenting on the previous waves of the study, drew attention to the connection of public evaluations with international politics and the perception of support for Ukraine.
"This study confirms the general vector of public sentiments in Ukraine, which intensified after the start of a large-scale war. Ukrainians clearly associate the support received primarily from the countries of the European Union and Great Britain with a positive attitude towards them," Pozniy said. Separately, regarding Hungary, he emphasized: "Such results are not unexpected - the official rhetoric of Budapest and Bratislava often diverges from the interests of Ukraine and is perceived as pro-Russian, which cannot but be reflected in public opinion."
The new wave shows a significant softening of Hungary's evaluations compared to March. At the same time, it is still not possible to talk about a predominantly positive perception: negative answers remain approximately one and a half times more common than positive ones, and the largest single group was respondents with a neutral attitude.
The survey was conducted in August 2026 using the method of online self-completion of questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older. The sample is representative by age, gender and region, the maximum theoretical error for indicators at the level of 50% is ±3.5 percentage points.
