A rare consensus
The consensus is real and unusual. Asked on a 0-to-10 scale how prevalent corruption is - where 0 means it is not a problem at all and 10 an extremely serious problem - half of all citizens (50%) choose the very top of the scale, and answers pile up at the high end.
Unlike almost every other question in the survey, this judgement holds across the divide: 85% of student-list voters rate corruption a 10, and while ruling-party voters are less emphatic and more spread across the scale, they do not deny the problem exists.
On the diagnosis that something is badly wrong, citizens largely agree.
Unlike almost every other question in the survey, this judgement holds across the divide: 85% of student-list voters rate corruption a 10, and while ruling-party voters are less emphatic and more spread across the scale, they do not deny the problem exists.
On the diagnosis that something is badly wrong, citizens largely agree.
Blame on the system - and on those in power
They also, in the main, look in the same direction for blame. Asked who is most responsible, 38% point to the entire political system - far ahead of the current authorities (16%), Serbian "culture and mentality" (13%), the previous government (12%) or business elites (10%). Corruption is understood as something built into how power works, not the failing of any single actor. And the way citizens frame it has been shifting over time.
Through CRTA's 2025 surveys corruption was consistently the most frequently named problem facing the country - cited by around 31% in December 2024 and 32% in February 2025, easing to 26% by September 2025 - even as the share naming the ruling parties and Aleksandar Vučić himself as the country's main problem more than doubled, from 9% to 23%. The direction is clear: for a large part of the public, corruption is increasingly attached to those currently in power.
Through CRTA's 2025 surveys corruption was consistently the most frequently named problem facing the country - cited by around 31% in December 2024 and 32% in February 2025, easing to 26% by September 2025 - even as the share naming the ruling parties and Aleksandar Vučić himself as the country's main problem more than doubled, from 9% to 23%. The direction is clear: for a large part of the public, corruption is increasingly attached to those currently in power.
One fix unites, the rest divide
The consensus starts to crack here. Behind the shared "whole system" verdict lies a partisan split: student-list voters (57%), the undecided (51%) and abstainers (46%) all blame the system as a whole, but ruling-party voters break the other way, pinning responsibility on the previous administration and on external factors and "mentality" rather than on those in office now.
The divergence is widest over the government's record. Asked which statement best fits their view of anti-corruption efforts, 39% of citizens say the whole system is corrupt and needs fundamental change, and another 22% that the fight against corruption is mostly for show - a clear majority who see the effort as, at best, cosmetic. Only 17% believe the government is sincerely trying.
But that belief is almost purely partisan: 53% of ruling-party voters credit the government with a sincere effort, against 61% of student-list voters who say the whole system is rotten and needs root-and-branch change. Whether the state is fighting corruption or embodying it depends almost entirely on whom you vote for.
The divergence is widest over the government's record. Asked which statement best fits their view of anti-corruption efforts, 39% of citizens say the whole system is corrupt and needs fundamental change, and another 22% that the fight against corruption is mostly for show - a clear majority who see the effort as, at best, cosmetic. Only 17% believe the government is sincerely trying.
But that belief is almost purely partisan: 53% of ruling-party voters credit the government with a sincere effort, against 61% of student-list voters who say the whole system is rotten and needs root-and-branch change. Whether the state is fighting corruption or embodying it depends almost entirely on whom you vote for.
Agreed on prosecution, split on the rest
The remedy follows the same pattern - shared diagnosis, divided prescription. There is one clear point of agreement: more effective prosecution and stricter sentences top the list of what would most reduce corruption for every group alike - ruling-party voters (65%), student-list voters (61%), the undecided (68%) and abstainers (65%).
Beyond that, preferences fracture along the familiar line: student-list voters put far more weight on a change of government through elections (65%, against just 5% of ruling-party voters) and on free media that expose corruption (48%, against 19%), while ruling-party voters lean on strengthening institutions. One side sees the cure as removing the current government; the other, as everything except that.
Beyond that, preferences fracture along the familiar line: student-list voters put far more weight on a change of government through elections (65%, against just 5% of ruling-party voters) and on free media that expose corruption (48%, against 19%), while ruling-party voters lean on strengthening institutions. One side sees the cure as removing the current government; the other, as everything except that.
Everyday needs come first
The same pattern shapes what citizens want the government to prioritise, though here everyday needs come first: healthcare (48%), employment (38%) and poverty (36%) top the list of the three most important problems, with systemic corruption (32%) and education (31%) close behind.
But the agenda, too, splits by camp - ruling-party voters rank healthcare, poverty, Kosovo and energy costs highest, while student-list voters put systemic corruption, education, media freedom and EU integration far higher.
But the agenda, too, splits by camp - ruling-party voters rank healthcare, poverty, Kosovo and energy costs highest, while student-list voters put systemic corruption, education, media freedom and EU integration far higher.
A shared concern, not a shared agenda
A near-universal grievance might be expected to unify; here it does not. Corruption is the closest thing Serbia has to a shared concern - grave, systemic, and now increasingly attributed to those in power. Yet the polarisation is strong enough to turn even this into two opposite accounts: one in which the government is fighting a problem inherited from the past, another in which it is the problem. The result is a broad concern about corruption alongside a hard political limit on turning that concern into agreed action.
Source: CRTA public opinion survey, conducted with the Democracy Action Lab (Stanford CDDRL); fieldwork by Pulse Research. Face-to-face (CAPI), n=2324, representative of the adult population of Serbia (excl. Kosovo), 10-24 June 2026, margin of error ±2.08%. The over-time "biggest problem" figures are from CRTA surveys of December 2024 to September 2025 (December 2024 and April 2025 face-to-face; February and September 2025 by telephone/CATI).
