A little more than 50% of Bulgarians do not want to defend any NATO ally if it attacks. More than 10% do not want NATO to protect them in the event of an attack on Bulgaria, reports Dnevnik, quoted by Rador.

These and other data are the result of a sociological survey in November 2022 among 30 member states of the Alliance, as well as Sweden and Finland. Participants were asked to rate from 0 to 10 (highest agreement) their agreement with the statement that Bulgaria should defend another NATO country if attacked.

A little less than a fifth (18%) say they are in the middle — neither to protect nor to protect an ally. One in four (25%) is in favor of helping a NATO country, and of this group, 9% chose the most categorical answer “I do not agree at all.”

Again, the largest group of pro-alliance Bulgarians are those who categorically say “completely agree” (14%). The rest are evenly divided into groups of 9-10 percent each.

The Bulgarians are not exactly the last when it comes to answering the question of whether they would want other allies to defend Bulgaria if it were attacked. Things are worse in Slovakia, North Macedonia, Estonia and Montenegro.

More than two-thirds (68%) agreed to accept help from allies, 11% disagreed and 16% said they were torn between the two. Another 5% say they don’t know the answer. This means that a third of the Bulgarians polled are against, in doubt or do not know whether they want to be protected by other allies. But also 25% answered “Definitely yes”.

In general, more than half of the respondents believe that their country’s membership in NATO prevents an attack by another country. In Bulgaria, 57% of respondents think so – the same number as in Germany.

At the other end of the rating is the USA, where 54% of respondents are convinced that thanks to the Alliance no one will dare to attack.

More than one in five (22%) Bulgarians are sure that membership in NATO does not have such an effect, and 16% are hesitant. More than half of Bulgarians would vote for the country’s membership in NATO if faced with the choice of voting for or against in a referendum.

Bulgarians are also asked how important they think NATO is to Bulgaria’s future security. Here, more than two-thirds (37%) said it was “Very important”, another 29% said it was “Important”, and 9% did not consider it important at all.

Less than half (45%) of Bulgarians said they trust NATO. 31% do not trust the organization, and 11% took even the most extreme position – “do not trust at all”.

It is no longer news that the people of Bulgaria do not agree with the fact that their country should help Ukraine (the question does not specify whether it is about weapons). According to the poll, 54% are against, and only Montenegro is at the same level, with Greece coming close at 51%.

In none of the studied countries is the group that chose “Completely against” (30%) so large.

Here are some of the general results for all countries:

• Defense spending: 74% support maintaining or increasing defense spending, up from 70% in 2021 and 2020. Transatlantic connectivity remains extremely important to security challenges (82% say the connection between North America and Europe is important, compared to 81% in 2021). ).
• Collective defense enjoys much greater support from the majority of the entire Alliance. 69% agree that their country should defend another ally if attacked, up from 64% in 2021. Only 9% disagree.
• Belief in NATO membership – that it makes it less likely that a foreign power will attack – rose significantly to 61% from 53% in 2021.
• The intention to vote has increased significantly. In a referendum, 70% of Alliance citizens would vote for their country to remain a NATO member. Only 11% would vote against joining.
• The vast majority of Alliance citizens believe that NATO is important for their country’s future security (74%), only 6% believe that it is not.

Knowledge of the organization as a whole has increased significantly: 83% know very little about NATO, compared to 74% in 2021. 52% know NATO very well or fairly well.

63% of Alliance citizens have a negative attitude towards Russia, compared to 46% in 2021. 14% have a favorable opinion of Russia. 45% of the citizens of the Alliance have a negative attitude towards China, compared to 44% in 2021. Most of the citizens of the Alliance believe that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affected the security of their country (64%).