The stage of Pedro Sánchez’s investiture has left a political scene marked by two powerful stories. The first, from the right-wing parties, is that the PSOE has dealt the definitive blow to the Constitution with its concessions to ERC and Junts, especially with the amnesty of the ‘procés’, and that such an outrage justifies the tension in the street. The second, from the independentistas, is that the newborn legislature will be that of the new lace from Cataloniawith the horizon of something similar to a referendum. What unites both poles is the pretext that a social majority, more or less silent, supports both roadmaps. But the surveys, which best reflect the Spain and Catalonia that the majority want, show that citizens’ perceptions contain many more nuances than black or white.
Latest barometer of the Center d’Estudis d’Opinió (CEO) of the Generalitat, published this month, reproduced the support of three out of every four Catalans (73%) for holding a referendum, a percentage that remained quite stable during the ‘procés’. Even 53% of opposed to independence They defend the possibility of voting, compared to 38% who reject any consultation. But the survey also asked in various ways to what extent the interviewees feel Catalan and Spanish. Although the catalan identity attracts more adhesions, the Spanish one maintains the pull. For example, one in three Catalans They consider themselves Spanish (67%), just over half feel “very linked” to Spain (53%) or believe that being Spanish “is an important part” of their identity (51%). The same questions about Catalan identity raise the percentages above 80%.
Perceptions by age group confirm the growing trend that younger generations are less attracted to the independence movement than in previous times. Although he Catalan sense of belonging It is very common in all sectors, the emotional dimension is more intense in the older age groups. Among older people, it is much more common to feel insulted when Catalonia is criticized, or to feel that being Catalan is a very important part of one’s identity. In general, the emotional connection with Spain It is not as majority as the Catalan one, it is more common among older people to feel this belonging as an important element of their own identity.
Beyond this current photograph about the identity of the Catalans, since 2006 a very eloquent reality (and perhaps shocking for some sectors) has occurred when the CEO asks about the sense of belonging. Always in these 17 years, even in the most turbulent stages of the ‘procés’, the majority response has been ‘as Catalan as Spanish‘. Currently, 43.7% of those interviewed define themselves this way, almost 20 points more than those who consider themselves more Catalans than Spanish (24.4%) and almost 27 points more than those declared only catalans.
The smallest difference occurred between 2013 and 2014, in the midst of preparations for the 9-N referendum, when 31% considered themselves both Catalan and Spanish and 29%, only Catalan. From then on, the advantage of the first option grew, although without reaching the record of 47.8% that it reached in 2008. This same week, the Catalan International Institute for Peace (ICIP) has presented a study on coexistence and security in Catalonia which concludes that the independence process continues to be the issue that generates the most polarization in society, although it does so less than in 2022 and is the least of the concerns of Catalans on a personal level.
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Despite the PP demonstrations and the protests of the extreme right in front of the PSOE headquarters, the concern of Spaniards about the ‘procés’, which reached 25% in the autumn of 2017, is today barely 1.6%, according to the barometers of the CIS. This organization has been asking about the Territorial organization preferred by the Spanish and the most cited answer has always been autonomous status quo. Autonomist sensitivity, which reached 57.4% in 2007, has resisted four decades of territorial tensions of all kinds, although it suffered noticeably from 2012, with the starting signal of the ‘procés’.
Between 2011 and 2012 it fell 11 points, to 29.4%, just five points ahead of those who advocated a Central government without autonomyan option that surpassed in support what had been the second preference until then: give more powers to communities. With the failure of the unilateral route, the perceptions of Spaniards were once again repositioned and the last time the CIS asked this question, 31.6% supported the current model, 19.8% wanted cut self-government, 18.3 preferred to raise it and 13% defended centralism. He right of the autonomies to become independent It used to always be the fifth option, but now it has overtaken the unitary state by half a point and is supported by 13.5%, a record in 40 years.