Post-communist legacies shape not only people’s opinions but also how they integrate these views into broader ideological frameworks. Although earlier comparative studies have documented significant differences between post-communist and non-post-communist contexts, we still lack clarity on how these patterns have evolved in Central and Eastern Europe after more than three decades of political and economic convergence.
Older generations who experienced life under communist regimes are gradually being replaced by younger cohorts who matured under new political conditions. In addition, EU accession has normalized Western political agendas in many countries throughout the region. Finally, turbulent shifts in party systems and elite-level factors—such as the rise of populism—may further influence the trajectory of belief alignment.
Drawing on multiple sources of public opinion data, we conduct age-period-cohort analyses (1990–2020) to identify shifts in beliefs and their alignment across the region. In addition, we field an original cross-country survey in three heterogeneous countries—Czechia, Hungary, and Lithuania (N = 4,296)—to more thoroughly examine intra-country differences in belief alignment across 13 contemporary political issues of high policy relevance. Using correlational class analysis, we find that populations are divided into multiple groups based on their belief structures. While some groups display configurations that diverge from Western patterns or are fragmented, a substantial portion (over one third) shares belief structures similar to those found in Western contexts. In an exploratory extension, we further characterize these groups according to their socio-economic profiles and voting behaviors, highlighting several potential avenues for future research.