‘Demokracja’ w świetle badań ankietowych ASA i sondaży opinii społecznej CBOS

The purpose of this article is to outline the understanding of the term "democracy" by Polish student youth in the light of the ASA survey ("axiological dictionary questionnaire") conducted in Lublin from 1990 to the present period, in order also in the light of the CBOS survey from 2000, and to define the place of "democratic values" in the system of values of Polish society on the basis of CBOS reports from the years 2005-2019. The ASA "cognitive" questionnaire, containing an open-ended question, confirmed that the features co-creating the "semantic centre" of the Polish notion of "democracy" over the consecutive decades invariably included "freedom" and "equality" and their various dimensions. The CBOS poll, which asked a closed question and indicated those features of 'democracy' which are at-tributed to it mainly "in theoretical considerations" and in journalism, revealed that adult Poles considered 'equality before the law' to be the most important feature of democracy, followed by such features as: 'protection of personal freedom of citizens', 'selection of the best people to govern the country', 'provision of equal educational opportunities for chil-dren from all families', etc. "Democratic values" were among the sixteen values important for Polish society. They occupied an important – albeit not the most important – place in this system.