Mainly ÖVP voters

Majority see the point of inquiry committees dwindling

The majority of Austrians are of the opinion that committees of inquiry make less and less sense.

(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

The majority of Austrians are of the opinion that committees of inquiry make less and less sense and mainly serve the purpose of patting down political opponents. In an online survey conducted by OGM among 1019 eligible voters, 53% expressed this view. 

In contrast, 36% thought that the committees make sense and serve the purpose of parliamentary control. ÖVP and FPÖ voters and older respondents are particularly skeptical of committees.

A representative sample of eligible voters was selected for the study, with a maximum fluctuation margin of plus/minus 3.1 percent. Ten percent of respondents did not provide any information or stated that they did not know.

The survey was conducted online in the OGM panel. According to OGM, this currently comprises around 31,400 people, who were screened years ago in several hundred thousand representative Austria-wide telephone surveys and have been continuously supplemented for five years in the course of media cooperations on non-political topics, such as the ORF consumer magazine "konkret".

ÖVP and FPÖ voters most skeptical
The ÖVP voters are the most skeptical about sub-committees - only 15% see them as a useful or important means of parliamentary control and 75% see them as a political tool for pandering. FPÖ voters are also more skeptical than the rest, with 28% seeing the committees as an important means of control and 61% seeing them primarily as a potential tool for pandering.

Among SPÖ, Green and NEOS voters, on the other hand, committee supporters outweigh the rest, but only just. For OGM, these results are relatively logical, as the ÖVP is the main party affected by the committees of recent years and the FPÖ is the focus of one of the new committees.

Younger people see a useful control instrument
Among the under-30s, the vast majority still see the committees as a useful control instrument (47 vs. 28%), while the over-50s see even less sense in them (67 vs. 28%). In the middle age group, approval and rejection are roughly balanced.

"In view of other studies, such as the trust index in politicians and political institutions, the conclusion is obvious that the permanence and attacking tone of the U-committees causes more (trust) damage to the political system as a whole than benefits it," analyzed OGM CEO Wolfgang Bachmyer in a statement sent to APA. Among the supporters of the "attacking" parties, approval would predominate - "but quite a few of them are skeptical".