Jobbik Party members. Photo: Wikipedia.

A new survey commissioned by a Hungarian antisemitism watchdog group found that one-third of the general population in Hungary espouses varying degrees of anti-Jewish attitudes, the European Jewish Press reported.

According to the survey — which was carried out on behalf of the Action and Protection Foundation (TEV) — antisemitism in Hungary has grown over the last year.

In addition, antisemitic attitudes and prejudice against Jews are closely tied with general xenophobic attitudes found to be rampant in Hungarian society, the survey found. 

“It is the mission of TEV to survey the state of antisemitic prejudices in Hungary year after year. Our purpose is to get a clear picture of this phenomenon through fully objective research, and not think about it based on subjective impressions,” said TEV chairman Daniel Bodnar.

The poll — which was conducted by the Median Opinion and Market Research Institute — gathered information on the strength of antisemitic prejudice, perceptions of antisemitism and associations related to Jews, the report said.

In 2015, Median published the results of a similar poll, which indicated a dramatic spread in antisemitism throughout Hungary. Twenty-three percent of Hungarians were found to reject Jews on an “emotional” level, compared to only nine percent in 2003. In Budapest, Hungary’s capital, 49% of the city’s residents were found to be antisemitic, compared to an average of 24% in rural Hungarian towns.

Currently, the third largest political party in Hungary is the far-Right Jobbik, which won 20% of the parliamentary votes in the 2014 election. Jobbik is quickly growing in popularity across Hungary, and party leaders have spoken out against what they call “Zionist Israel’s efforts to dominate Hungary and the world.” Many of its members have been accused of antisemitism.