41% of Catalans declare that they feel not at all or not very proud of being Spanish, while 77% of them declare that they are very or quite proud of their condition as Catalans, according to the 2022-23 sociopolitical survey released this Thursday by the Center d’ Estudis d’Opinió, polling agency dependent on the Generalitat. The survey also reveals that a majority of respondents, 57%, believe that the Spanish and Catalan governments should cooperate more than they do.
Specifically, the survey reveals that 18% of Catalans are not at all proud of being Spanish and another 23% say they are not very proud, while one in four feel very proud and 30% quite proud, so that those who feel proud to be Spanish are the majority (55%). A majority that expands to 77% when it refers to the pride of being Catalan. In this case, it is 44% of those asked who answer that they feel very proud. On the opposite side, 8% state that they feel not at all proud of being Catalan and 11%, little.
This pride, as the CEO’s work shows, is closely linked to the feeling of belonging, such that those who are most proud to be Catalan and least proud to be Spanish are those who have a feeling of belonging only to Catalan, and vice versa.
However, while those who have a feeling of belonging only to Catalan respond almost unanimously that they feel proud to be Catalan and deny their status as Spanish with figures that range between 96 and 97%, individuals with only Spanish belonging they do not express such unanimous rejection of their condition as Catalans (71%).
Due to party sympathy, those who demonstrate close to the CUP are the ones who most reject what is Spanish, to the point that 92% of them feel little or no pride in this condition. However, there is a significant 12% of these sympathizers of the anti-capitalist left who are not proud of being Catalan either.
In contrast, supporters of the rest of the pro-independence formations, Junts and ERC, express an almost unanimous pride in being Catalan (98%, the former; 96%, the latter), while they express rejection of their Spanish identity but with different intensity. In the case of Junts, the rejection reaches 83% of his supporters while in the case of the Republicans it drops to 76%.
On the opposite side are the parties of the right and ultra-right of Spanish origin such as PP, Cs and Vox, whose pride in being Spanish oscillates between 80% of the liberals and 90% of the conservatives. Regarding Catalonia, half of the voters of the PP and Vox do not feel proud of being Catalan while in the case of Cs this figure is reduced to 46%.
In the middle are the sympathizers of the PSC and the commoners. Both groups express pride in being Catalan over 70% but the differences are found when asking about the condition of Spanish. Among the socialists the figures are similar to those of PP or Vox (85%), while for the commoners this percentage is reduced to 51%.
Regarding the positive aspects of being Catalan, those surveyed highlight the way of being and thinking, culture, traditions and the territory, while in relation to the negative aspects, they highlight dissatisfaction with politics and relations between Catalonia and Spain.
Precisely, the CEO’s survey also asks about the relations between the governments of the Generalitat and Spanish and specifically about the level of cooperation between the two. Almost six out of ten Catalans this level is insufficient and they understand that they should cooperate more. These respondents blame the majority (58%) of both executives for this lack of cooperation, while 25% attribute it mainly to Spanish and another 15% to Catalan.
23% of the sample considers that the cooperation between both governments is adequate and only 9% believes that it is excessive. Among supporters of the CUP and Junts there is a higher percentage that sees this excessive cooperation (32% the former and 25% the latter), followed by Vox (15%), PP (12%), ERC (8%), Cs(4%) PSC (3%) and common (marginal).