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An ongoing survey captures how the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected attitudes in European countries not directly involved in the conflict.

Margaryta Klymak and Tim Vlandas examine how the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected economic and political attitudes in eight European countries. The authors took advantage of the timing of the European Social Survey (ESS), which happened to be administered both just before and just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in eight countries: Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

The findings are in the journal PNAS Nexus.

Overall, the invasion increased support for democracy, income redistribution, and the European Union, whereas the invasion reduced authoritarian and anti-immigration attitudes. Some attitudes shifted immediately after the invasion, while others took about a month to change. The authors suggest that the sudden sense of external threat as well as the economic and migration consequences of the war drove these short and medium-term shifts.

According to the authors, the study adds to the understanding of how conflicts shape attitudes by capturing attitudinal shifts in non-belligerent countries. In this case, the war led survey respondents to rally around a common European identity and democratic values.