1,500 Calls and Public Trust in Spain and Valencia
Political figures are seen as the leading source of corruption by a clear majority of respondents, with 60 percent pointing to politicians as responsible. Business leaders follow at 47 percent, and civil servants appear at 39 percent. These findings come from the first Corruption Perception Survey conducted in the Community of Spain and Valencia, released this week by the Community Agency for the Prevention and Control of Fraud and Corruption. The head of Good Governance and Public Integrity, Fernando Jiménez, is noted in connection with the survey results.
Public Sentiment on Political Parties
Interviews were conducted through more than 1,500 telephone calls between September and October of the current year. Respondents express substantial discontent with political parties, rating their performance at just three points out of ten, among the lowest levels observed in the European Union. When asked about major concerns, inflation emerges as the most pressing issue at 21.4 percent, followed by political life at 20.3 percent. Fraud and corruption register a notably lower level of public concern, at 2.3 percent.
Zero Tolerance for Corruption
Resident concerns extend beyond politics to aspects of daily life such as unemployment, job quality, wages, the energy crisis, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. A key insight shows that citizens trust institutions differently: the armed forces rank highest in trust, followed by the police, with the European Union close behind. In terms of overall trust, political parties, the national government, and the national congress occupy the lower ranks. A large portion of the population reports satisfaction with life, with more than sixty percent indicating a degree of happiness.
Community Well-Being and Perceived Fairness
Among residents of the Community, 63.8 percent feel their own life is progressing well relative to others, slightly above the national average. Across Spain, about 60.6 percent share a similar sense of well being. In the Valencian area, concerns about rent fairness surface, with 55.6 percent of residents perceiving rent as unfairly distributed locally, a figure that aligns with the national sentiment of 54 percent. When it comes to corruption, the survey reveals that most people believe illegal behavior should be considered corrupt, while some respondents think that acts carried out for a just cause should not be labeled as corruption.
Valencian residents show a higher readiness to report suspected corruption compared with the national average, with nearly one in four residents willing to come forward, versus roughly one in six elsewhere. When asked about voting for corrupt politicians, the majority attribute their support to alignment with a party rather than to personal conviction. In explaining the reluctance to report corruption, the prevailing view is that the effort and cost do not seem worthwhile.