The majority of people believe that the alleged attempted attack on the Serbian section of the Turk Stream gas pipeline, which was announced on Sunday by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, was a misleading operation. 61 percent of Hungarians believed that the whole thing was a deceptive ploy designed to interfere in the election by helping Fidesz. Meanwhile, less than a quarter believed the report.

The vast majority of people had heard about the event; TISZA supporters were significantly better informed on the subject than Fidesz supporters, but the news had also reached 84 percent of Fidesz voters.

61 percent of the total population believes that the Serbian gas pipeline issue was a deceptive ploy aimed at boosting Fidesz’s electoral prospects. In contrast, only 23 percent of people view the issue as a serious threat.

The issue is, of course, highly divisive along party lines; however, it is striking that even among Fidesz voters, only 59 percent believe the government’s narrative, 18 percent view the campaign as interference in the Hungarian elections, and 23 percent are undecided on the matter.

Methodology: The survey was conducted on April 7 and 8 by the Medián Public Opinion and Market Research Institute through telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 800 people. Minor distortions in the sample were corrected using a mathematical procedure known as weighting, based on data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), so that the sample accurately reflects the composition of the voting-age population by settlement type, gender, age, and educational attainment. The margin of error for the reported data is up to ±3.5 percent of the total sample, depending on the distribution of responses.