Влияние на антидемократичната пропаганда върху българското обществено мнение: психологическият натиск и политическите избори
Influence of Anti-Democratic Propaganda on the Bulgarian Public Opinion: Psychological Pressure and Political Choices

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the results from the national representative survey on the impact of the anti-democratic propaganda in the Bulgarian media on the public opinion. Three topics are discussed in detail. First, the support for the basic democratic values, trust in the institutions, and in the key foreign countries and world leaders; second, the level of penetration of the most common propaganda messages in the public attitudes and in the specific socio-demographic and electoral groups; the role of the fake news; third, the ability of these messages to influence the direction and the character of the key citizens’ political choices. Based on the analysis of the results, two main theses are argued. The more directly politically oriented a message is, the more it polarizes the society. It gathers its supporters, but in the same time it mobilizes its opponents. And vice versa, the more hidden and psychological a message is, the more it is effective, awakening profound fears and reaching the widest influence. The second finding concerns the fact that, regardless of the wide spread of the propaganda messages in the media, they have not changed the basic geopolitical choices of the Bulgarians - until and as long as they do not offer an acceptable alternative to this choice.

• Details
• Contents