Rural people in general feel more secure than urban residents in the current situation in Ukraine, says political analyst Serhiy Lozovsky.
“People in villages feel themselves the least exposed to danger. And sociological studies confirm this. Rural residents have enough inner strength to secure themselves and their families. As to residents of cities, where government agencies must ensure security, there is a problem which makes them feel less secure in cities,” Lozovsky said, while commenting on a joint survey conducted by the Active Group and the Expert Club in a program on the latter’s YouTube channel.
According to the expert, this is caused by the fact that law enforcers often demonstrate poor response to acts of violence and violation of law.
“This often happens during mass events when law enforcers stand in line and show no response to beatings they witness,” Lozovsky said.
Earlier, at the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency, the Active Group and the Expert Club presented the results of their second joint survey. This time they studied Ukrainians’ opinion about work of central government agencies and local governments, unemployment growth caused by the quarantine restrictions, the population’s attitude towards official statistics on the coronavirus (COVID-19) incidence rate, as well as the main issues of concern for urban and rural residents.
The survey showed that the population in general negatively treats the incumbent government. Local governments enjoy the highest rating among Ukrainians – 45% of respondents praised their work, 38% said the president was doing a good job, and only around 20% praised the country’s prime minister.
Some 10.5% of those polled said the National Police worked good, while more than 55% said the opposite. Local police stations have the highest rating – 22% praised their work, while 39% said it was bad.
The main issues of concern for urban and rural residents include: quality of roads (54% of respondents), condition of the public facilities (44.7%), condition of the infrastructure inside buildings (43.5%), unemployment (34.2%), housing and utility tariffs (31.1%), mass renaming of streets, cities and villages (29.2%).
Additional information about the survey is available on the website of Active Group and on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
The video is available on the YouTube channel:
ACTIVE GROUP, BOHATYRIOV, EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, LOZOVSKY, POLL, PUBLIC OPINION, SOCIOLOGY
Active Group and Expert Club have presented a joint sociological survey at the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.
The opinion survey covered Ukrainian citizens’ assessment of work of the government and the national police, their attitude to a rise in unemployment and the official statistics on COVID-19 sickness rate, the main issues of concern of urban and rural residents, religion-related problems, etc.
The invited experts – political analyst Serhiy Lozovsky, political expert Valentyn Haidai, political scientist Danylo Bohatyriov, Head of the Active Group sociology company Oleksandr Pozniy – shared their opinions about the results of the survey and commented on the most interesting trends discovered during the poll. The experts came to the conclusion that the ruling party is likely to lose ground, while regional projects will strengthen their positions at the local elections on October 25.
According to the survey, the population in general negatively assesses the work of the central government agencies. Some 38% respondents praised the president’s work and less than 20% said they were positive about work of the prime minister and the Cabinet of Ministers in general. Only 10% of respondents gave a positive assessment of the national police and 22% praised the patrol police (district offices in regions).
Most of the polled Ukrainian citizens are satisfied with the work of local governments: 45% of respondents gave them 4 and 5 points on a scale from one to five.
A total of 33% respondents said that they have experienced changes in their work schedule and employment following the introduction of lockdown restrictions. Some 12.4% switched to remote work, 10.6% left for unpaid vacation, 5% had their work schedule curtailed, 3.1% were laid off, 1.9% left for paid vacation. Meanwhile, 34% of respondents continued to work as regular.
Around 55% of respondents said they did not trust the Health Ministry’s statistics on COVID-19 sickness rate, of them 34.2% said the figures were overstated, 20.5% said the figures were understated. Some 18.6% of those polled fully trust the statistics, 14.9% – trust it partially.
Some 72% respondents said they are religious people (regardless of confession), while 24% said they are atheists.
The main issues of concern mentioned by urban and rural residents include the quality of roads (54%), condition of public spaces (44.7%), condition of domestic infrastructure (43.5%), lack of jobs (34.2%), housing and utility tariffs (31.1%), mass renaming of streets, cities and villages (29.2%).
You can find additional information about the survey on the website of Active Group and on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
The video of the presentation is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttCb81mQqbk
ACTIVEGROUP, EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, POLL, PUBLIC OPINION, SOCIOLOGY
Executive Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Mykola Spiridonov has said, while commenting on the results of a sociology survey conducted by Active Group, that making peace in eastern Ukraine could be the only chance for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to complete his presidential tenure successfully.
“Everything has failed. The economy failed, the social policy failed, the foreign policy failed. If Zelensky managed to put an end to the war on the least acceptable terms, he could become a part of history as a successful president. Then everything I have just said about the economy and social policy would be forgotten in 50 years, while the end of the war would be written down in history with capital letters,” Spyrydonov said on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
The political expert said that the government tries to reach a compromise in the settlement of the military conflict in Donbas.
“Zelensky wishes to put an end to the war, but he is not familiar with the instruments. The president doubts. We can set as an example Sivokho, who was appointed and then dismissed under pressure of the nationalist forces,” the expert said.
According to the sociology poll, which was presented by Active Group and Expert Club at the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency on June 22, 2020, some 80% of Ukrainians said that the incumbent government is delaying the end of the war and doing nothing or doing not enough to finish it. Only 6% of respondents said that Zelensky’s team does the utmost under current conditions for this purpose.
The full video is available on the Expert Club YouTube channel:
DONBAS, EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, EXPERT KITCHEN, PEACE IN DONBAS, POLITICS, SPYRYDONOV
Executive Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Mykola Spyrydonov has said that healthcare reform creates numerous problems with medical assistance for the population. He expressed such opinion during a discussion of a sociology survey conducted by Active Group, which was presented jointly with the Expert Club on June 22, 2020 at the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.
“Even now, when ambulance arrives on call to take care of a child, the doctors in fact cannot do anything if the contract with a family doctor is not signed. If the contract is signed, the person is in fact a bondman,” the political expert said in a recent video on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
Therefore, according to Spyrydonov, the bureaucratic system does not allow people to receive medical services in the needed amount and in fact force them to go to private clinics.
“In fact, we are witnessing the process of destroying medicine, hindering the population from receiving medical services. Moreover, the number of hospitals and medical personnel is being reduced, thus creating additional hardships for receiving medical assistance,” the expert said.
According to the opinion poll, some 50% of Ukrainians said that the country’s healthcare system has become worse in general since the introduction of lockdown restrictions, while 22% respondents said that medical services have slightly improved, and only 3% said that they have significantly worsened.
The full video is available on the Expert Club YouTube channel:
EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, EXPERT KITCHEN, HEALTHCARE REFORM, MEDICINE, SPYRYDONOV
Almost half of Ukrainians note deterioration in the health system from the beginning of lockdown measures.
This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by Active Group sociological company and presented at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Monday, June 22.
Head of Active Group sociological company Oleksandr Pozniy said that in particular, some 28.4% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation in the health system has deteriorated slightly, while some 21.4% of respondents believe that the situation has deteriorated significantly.
However, some 25.9% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation improved, while some 24.3% found it difficult to answer.
Pozniy said that some 34.6% of Ukrainians surveyed assessed the first stage of medical reform positively or generally positively, while some 46.4% of respondents rated the first stage of the reform more negatively or negatively.
The reform was assessed as positive one by respondents aged 30-39 years, while respondents over 50 years old gave the largest number of negative assessments to the first stage of medical reform.
According to Active Group, the survey was conducted by telephone interview on June 7-9. Some 1,236 respondents were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, except for the uncontrolled territories and Crimea. The study is representative by age, gender and place of residence. The sampling error does not exceed 2.8%.
Political expert Volodymyr Volia has shared his opinion about development prospects of the EU, the economic situation today and the consequences of the pandemic, as well as made forecasts about the revival of the Schengen Area exclusively for the Expert Kitchen program on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
According to the expert, the EU has faced several unpleasant events lately, such as the Brexit referendum and the so-called coronavirus crisis, and if the second wave of the pandemic occurs, the recession may get even worse and trigger a social crisis, poverty and unemployment.
“As the economy of Europe has been seriously affected since February, we may witness even a longer halt that will ‘kill’ the economy of the EU,” Volia said.
He added that as of the middle of April alone the EU has sustained a loss of more than EUR 3 trillion, which equals the annual federal budget of the United States. The expert also forecasted the exacerbation of the argument between the EU member states on the allocation of sales quotas, which are especially important to the countries of the Eastern and Southeast Europe, assistance and contributions to the EU budget.
In the expert’s opinion, the revival prospects of the Schengen Area look more optimistic.
“I think the movement inside the Schengen Area will be completely resumed by the end of June. As to the states, which are not a part of this area, a piecemeal approach will be applied to them. The epidemiological situation in each specific country will be taken into account and the regions of the world will be determined for the simplification of the procedure. Certainly, everything will also depend on the purpose of travel,” he said.
Volia also noted that tourism in the non-Schengen countries will be revived almost in full by the beginning of July.
