The role of public opinion in the speeches by deputies to the Republic of Poland’s Parliament of the Sixth-Term

Abstract

Deputies to the Sixth-Term Sejm [Parliament] (belonging to all the political parties) invoked public opinion in their speeches. In terms of percentage these cases are not very numerous – barely 2.4%, but it should be observed that the deputies frequently speaking in the parliamentary forum referred to public opinion more than once in a single speech. No significant difference in the frequencies of such references was found between the ruling coalition deputies and the opposition ones. Public opinion is treated as an important force that should not be disregarded not only during the election time but also after the elections when some parties strive to retain power while others to take it over. There were cases in which the government abandoned the planned legislative changes for fear of the reaction of public opinion. When referring to public opinion, the deputies play the roles of a tribune, analyst and trustee of the public interest. In the name of public opinion they ask questions and demand explanations; they present the public opinion’s position that will serve as a reinforcement of a deputy’s argument or enable criticism of solutions offered by others; they point to public opinion as a party to the process of making decisions serving the common good. It follows from the analyzed research material that when invoking public opinion the deputies use their intuitions about its position on a particular matter more often than opinion-polling results. If public opinion survey results are cited, most frequently these are opinion polls conducted by the CBOS (Public Opinion Research Center) and TNS OBOP (Center for Public Opinion Research).