Influence of Anti-Democratic Propaganda on Bulgarian Public Opinion: Between the Psychological Pressure and the Political Choices
Influence of Anti-Democratic Propaganda on Bulgarian Public Opinion: Between the Psychological Pressure and the Political Choices

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the results of a nationally representative survey on the influence of anti-democratic propaganda on Bulgarian public opinion. Three topics are discussed in detail. First, the levels of public support for basic democratic values, and of public trust in institutions, key foreign countries and world leaders; second, the level of penetration of the most widespread propaganda messages in public attitudes and in specific socio-demographic and electoral groups, and the role of fake news; third, the ability of these messages to influence the direction and character of Bulgarian citizens’ key political choices. Based on the analysis of the results, two main theses are argued. First, the more overtly geopolitically oriented the messages are, the more they polarize society; the explicitly geopolitical propaganda theses are winning supporters but, at the same time, the respective counter-theses are also gaining traction. Conversely, the more covertly politically and psychologically oriented the messages are, the more they feed on and intensify people’s fears and disappointments, and win supporters without resistance. But, second, however widespread the propaganda messages are in Bulgarian media, for the time being they have not man- aged to change the key geopolitical pro-European and pro-liberal choices of the Bulgarians – until and as long as they do not offer an acceptable alternative to this choice.

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