Centre for Public Opinion Research

The Centre for Public Opinion Research, known in Polish as Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej and commonly abbreviated as CBOS, is a Polish public opinion research institute headquartered in Warsaw. Its work focuses on measuring attitudes and perceptions among Poland’s population, especially on political, social, and public-policy questions. The institution is one of the country’s most frequently cited polling organizations and supplies data to news organizations, researchers, public institutions, and other clients. CBOS was originally established in 1982, during the period of communist rule in Poland. Its institutional form later changed substantially after the democratic transition. Since 1997, it has operated as a non-profit public foundation established under a dedicated act of the Polish Parliament. That law defines its public-purpose role and provides for institutional oversight by a board composed of academic experts and representatives associated with Poland’s principal state institutions. The post-1997 framework was intended to give CBOS a formal and continuing public research mandate rather than treating it solely as a commercial polling company. The centre’s statutory purpose is to collect and publish information about public opinion on political and social issues. Its best-known recurring program is a monthly survey titled “Current Problems and Events” (Aktualne problemy i wydarzenia), based on a representative sample of approximately 1,000 adults entitled to vote. Each edition examines a particular subject, while some themes are revisited at regular intervals so that changes in public attitudes can be tracked over time. Since 1998, the results have been made available online with a delay of approximately one month. CBOS also publishes an English-language abridged newsletter, “Polish Public Opinion,” summarizing selected findings for readers outside Poland. The organization’s output extends beyond polling releases. It publishes more than 200 reports and books in a typical year, covering subjects such as political preferences, trust in institutions, social values, economic perceptions, demographic attitudes, and reactions to current events. Its research operation is supported by a Warsaw-based staff of more than 40 sociologists, economists, statisticians, and computer scientists, together with a nationwide interviewer network. This structure allows CBOS to conduct both recurring national surveys and commissioned studies. Although it performs a public-information function, CBOS also undertakes commercial market research. Revenue from these activities helps support the institution’s operations and complements its publicly oriented research program. Polish newspapers and news magazines, including Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, and Polityka, have commissioned or cited its polling work. The organization’s dual role—as a publicly mandated research centre and as a provider of paid research services—has also made its methodology, institutional independence, and perceived political positioning subjects of public debate. CBOS has faced criticism over the consistency and interpretation of some election-related polling. Commentators from different sides of Poland’s political and media spectrum have alleged that certain results appeared unusually favorable to particular clients or political groupings. One frequently discussed example concerned polls conducted before the 2015 presidential election, when separate surveys commissioned by different media clients produced notably different indications of support for Civic Platform and Law and Justice. Critics attributed the divergence to possible methodological or institutional factors, while the episode also became part of a broader debate about polling accuracy and political affiliations. After the 2019 parliamentary election, the polling-aggregation project Europe Elects reported that CBOS had the largest cumulative error among Polish pollsters in that contest, with an apparent tendency to favor the governing Law and Justice party. These criticisms are part of the public record surrounding the institute, but they do not establish that CBOS is defunct or that its research activities have ceased. CBOS remains an active component of Poland’s public-opinion research infrastructure. Its recurring surveys, long historical series, public reports, English summaries, and commissioned research give it a role that combines data production, public communication, and market-research services.

The Centre for Public Opinion Research, or CBOS, was created in Poland in 1982. Its origins therefore lie in the institutional environment of communist Poland, although its later legal and organizational structure belongs to the post-1989 democratic period. From the beginning, the centre’s central activity was the systematic study of public attitudes and opinions. Over time, this developed into a broad program covering political preferences, social values, institutional trust, public concerns, and reactions to current events. A major institutional turning point came in 1997, when the Polish legislature adopted a dedicated law concerning the foundation of the Centre for Public Opinion Research. Under this framework, CBOS became a non-profit public foundation with a statutory responsibility to provide information about the population’s views on political and social matters. The law also created an oversight arrangement involving a board of seven academic experts and representatives connected with the Sejm, the Senate, the prime minister, and the president. This arrangement placed CBOS within Poland’s public research infrastructure while retaining an organizational identity distinct from a government ministry or a conventional private polling agency. Since 1998, CBOS has placed its monthly survey findings online with an approximately one-month delay. The recurring survey “Current Problems and Events” uses a representative sample of roughly 1,000 voting-age adults. Its subject matter changes from edition to edition, but recurring themes allow researchers and journalists to follow the movement of public opinion over time. The institute also produces an English-language abridged newsletter called “Polish Public Opinion,” which makes selected findings accessible to international readers. CBOS expanded its output beyond individual poll releases. The institute publishes more than 200 reports and books in a typical year and conducts commissioned studies for media organizations and other clients. Its customers and users have included prominent Polish newspapers and magazines such as Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, and Polityka. In addition to public-opinion work, CBOS carries out commercial market research, with that revenue helping finance its broader operations. The centre’s research capacity rests on a multidisciplinary Warsaw staff of more than 40 people, including sociologists, economists, statisticians, and computer scientists, as well as a nationwide network of interviewers. This combination supports national representative surveys, thematic studies, longitudinal comparisons, and client-specific research. Its long-running series have made CBOS a significant source for historical analysis of Polish political and social change. The institute has also been subject to criticism. Media commentators have accused it of producing results that appeared overly favorable to particular clients or political interests, sometimes using the term “magic” to characterize perceived inconsistencies. Discussion intensified around the 2015 presidential election, when surveys conducted for different media clients gave contrasting indications of support for Civic Platform and Law and Justice. Critics questioned respondent-contact practices, methodological choices, and the organization’s perceived political relationships. These claims formed part of a wider Polish debate about polling quality rather than a documented institutional finding that the centre had ceased to operate independently. After the 2019 parliamentary election, Europe Elects compared polling performance and identified CBOS as having the largest cumulative error among the Polish pollsters in its comparison. The analysis also suggested a notable pro–Law and Justice bias in the institute’s estimates. The result added to scrutiny of CBOS’s electoral polling, while the organization continued its broader program of social surveys, reports, public communications, and commercial research. CBOS is therefore best understood as a hybrid public research institution: it has a legally defined non-profit and public-interest role, but it also serves paying clients and performs market research. Its continuing significance comes from the scale and regularity of its surveys, its extensive publication record, its established interviewer network, and the historical series that document changes in Polish public opinion.

• 1998

  Online publication of survey findings begins

  [1]Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  CBOS began making monthly survey findings available online with an approximately one-month publication delay.

• 1997

  Converted into a statutory public foundation

  [1]Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  A dedicated Polish law established CBOS as a non-profit public foundation and defined its public-purpose research mandate and oversight structure.

• 1982

  Institution established

  [1]Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  The Centre for Public Opinion Research was originally established in communist Poland as an institute focused on measuring public opinion.

• Development of the Current Problems and Events survey

  [1]Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  CBOS operates a recurring monthly national survey of approximately 1,000 adults entitled “Current Problems and Events.”

A nationally oriented Polish public-interest polling and social research institute combining a statutory public mission with commissioned and commercial research.

• Recurring public opinion survey

  Current Problems and Events

  CBOS’s principal recurring survey program samples approximately 1,000 adult Polish residents entitled to vote. Each monthly edition addresses a selected political or social topic, while themes such as institutional trust, political preferences, social conditions, and public concerns may return at intervals. The series supports both current reporting and longer-term analysis of changes in Polish public opinion.

• English-language newsletter

  Polish Public Opinion

  An abridged English-language publication that summarizes selected CBOS findings. It extends the reach of the institute’s Polish-language research to international readers, researchers, journalists, and institutions following political and social developments in Poland.

• Research publications

  Research reports and books

  CBOS publishes more than 200 reports and books in a typical year. These publications cover political attitudes, social values, public institutions, current affairs, economic perceptions, and other issues of interest to Polish society. The publications form an important archive for researchers studying public opinion and social change.

• Market research service

  Commercial market research

  Alongside its statutory public-opinion work, CBOS conducts commissioned commercial research. These studies help finance the organization and allow clients to obtain research on market, consumer, social, or opinion-related questions using the centre’s professional staff and interviewer network.

• 1997

  Adoption of a statutory public-foundation modelStrategy

  Background

  The Polish legislature adopted a dedicated law governing the Centre for Public Opinion Research after the institute’s earlier establishment in 1982.

  Action taken

  CBOS was organized as a non-profit public foundation with a defined mission to research and publish information about public opinion on political and social issues.

  Aftermath

  The arrangement gave CBOS a continuing public mandate and a formal oversight structure while leaving it able to conduct commissioned and commercial research.

  Source

• 2019

  Europe Elects reports high cumulative polling error for CBOS in 2019[1]Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Following Poland’s parliamentary election, Europe Elects reported that CBOS recorded the largest accumulated error among Polish pollsters included in its comparison, with results described as particularly favorable to Law and Justice.

• 2015

  CBOS criticism intensifies around 2015 election polling[1]Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Commentators including writers associated with Gazeta Wyborcza and wPolityce.pl questioned the institute’s methods and perceived political affiliations after separate client-commissioned surveys produced sharply different readings of support for Civic Platform and Law and Justice before the presidential election.

• CBOS establishes a recurring national survey program[1]Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  CBOS conducts the monthly “Current Problems and Events” survey, using a representative sample of approximately 1,000 adults entitled to vote and publishing recurring findings on political and social questions.

1. 1Centre for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official CBOS websitecbos.pl