The perception of a Polish democratic backlash in the German public opinion

This paper discusses how political changes in Poland between 2015 and 2019 were perceived in German public opinion, and if the latter influenced German official policies. Therefore the following research question was be addressed: In what way did a change in German public opinion, regarding the democratic backslide in Poland since 2015, influence official foreign policy positions of the German government? This question was addressed by utilizing theories on public opinion formation and concepts of government responsiveness to such trends in public discourse. In the realm of a qualitative data analysis, sources of written media content were assessed to examine public opinion trends. The results were compared to the findings of a qualitative analysis of official statements of the German government. This allowed identifying changes in public opinion, as well as deviances between the public opinion and the German government’s positions. While the German public expressed concerns about Polish democracy, the German government stayed reluctant to public criticism.