STA, 21 November 2019 - Slovenians' level of satisfaction with the general state in the country deteriorated this year for the first time following a steady climb of seven years, suggests the Slovenian Mirror survey, released on Thursday by pollster Valicon. Trust in institutions and professions meanwhile continues to rise.
Measuring the perception of the general state in Slovenia, expectations and personal happiness, the survey showed the share of discontent respondents increasing for the first time after the 91% peak, recorded in 2012, a year of country-wide street protests.
While the share reached its lowest point in the 2018 survey with 44%, the trend saw a reversal in the survey for this year, conducted in November. The share of discontent respondents was 51%, while the share of those content decreased to 22%.
Also up is the share of those who really do not feel happy, from 5% to 12%, while the share of those describing themselves as very happy fell from 9% to 6%.
Valicon noted that the decline in personal and general satisfaction was in keeping with the findings of other relevant recent surveys, which for instance recorded a drop in the support for the government in the autumn, a decline in consumer confidence and expectations regarding future finances.
Slovenian Mirror also measures trust in institutions and professions and found trust in institutions remaining on par with 2018, at -19% and still among the highest in the history of the survey.
The biggest drop was suffered by public broadcaster RTV Slovenije, which currently ranks 13th, while a relative strong decline was also recorded for banks and markets.
The recent years also brought a constant rise in trust in the companies and organises where the respondents are active. Support for the army and police is also stable, although both lost a few points this year.
The biggest rise in trust was recorded this year for opposition parties, which moved up two spots from last place to 21st, and for healthcare, where trust is positive again after years of decline. Trust in the country's president is also no longer negative, having risen by 5 percentage points, just like for education.
Firefighters continue to be the most trusted professionals, followed by nurses and scientists.
Trust in lawyers improved substantially, but is still in negative territory. The biggest drop was recorded for university professors, while minor declines were also suffered by journalists and police officers.
The survey was conducted via the Jazvem.si platform between 29 October and 5 November on a sample involving 875 respondents.
