More than 60% of Ukrainians are not satisfied with how democracy has developed in Ukraine and more than 54% think they would be unable to resist a government decision limiting their lawful rights and interests, a poll conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine with the support of the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation has shown. According to the results of the opinion poll announced at a press conference in Kyiv on December 21, 26,3% of those polled are not happy at all with how democracy has developed in Ukraine, 35,1% are rather not happy, 16.1% are rather happy, 1.4% are entirely happy, and 21.1% were unable to answer.
When asked about their feelings about the future of Ukraine, 20,1% of the people said that feel optimistic, 18.2% said they felt desperate, 23.4% said they felt confused, 14.1% said they felt pessimistic, 43.3% said they felt hopeful, 37.6% said they felt anxious, 15.2% said they felt interested, 21.1% said they felt scared, 11.5% said they felt confident, 3.7% said they felt nonchalant, 5.1% said they felt happy, and 4.2% said they felt joyful.
Also, 47.9% of those polled said the chances for mass rallies in their towns against declining living standards and for the protection of their rights are unlikely, and 29.1% said such chances are rather high.
In addition, 54.1% of the respondents said if the government of Ukraine made a decision that would limit their lawful rights and interests, they would not be able to do anything with it, 15.4% said they would be able to undertake something, and 30.5% could not provide an answer.
The poll was conducted from September 13 to 29, 2018 in all the regions of Ukraine for the exception of Crimea and the occupied territories in Donbas. A total of 1,800 people were polled.
There are almost two million Ukrainians in Poland who are working in Poland, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz has said. “According to different estimates, almost two million Ukrainians are already in Poland working in key areas of the economy: construction, agriculture, services. We appreciate their efforts and contribution to the development of our state,” he said at a meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish Partnership Forum in Kyiv.
In addition, the Polish foreign minister said almost 40,000 from Ukraine study at Polish universities.
The Polish minister added that in 2017 the Polish consuls issued 1.2 million visas to Ukrainian citizens.
Some 72% of Ukrainians are ready to support a woman candidate in the presidential elections if the party they trust nominated her as a presidential candidate, according to a study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted in October-November 2018. Only 36% of respondents expressed readiness to support a Jewish candidate, and 26% said they would vote for a dark-skinned candidate.
“Compared to 2011, when we first conducted such a survey, the support of women and Jews remained almost unchanged, while more people, from 18% to 26%, said they would support a dark-skinned candidate, KIIS said.
The study was similar to that conducted by Gallup in the United States since 1937. At the same time, the report notes that in 2015, for each of these three questions (about women, Jews and blacks), more than 90% of Americans (92%, 91% and 92%, respectively) said they were ready to vote for them.
However, previously these figures were lower in the United States. “Attitudes of Americans towards women candidates increased as a whole. Ukrainian data correspond to American data from the early 1970s,” KIIS said.
Ukrainian attitudes towards candidates of Jewish nationality and blacks are significantly lower than they were in the United States for the entire observation period. In particular, in 1937 only 46% of Americans responded positively to a question about Jewish candidates, and 37% of respondents answered positively to a question about dark-skinned candidates in 1958, when it was asked in interviews.
The all-Ukrainian public opinion poll of KIIS was conducted from October 26 to November 8, 2018. Some 2,044 people living in 110 settlements throughout Ukraine were questioned in a personal interview. The margin of error of the poll does not exceed 3.3%.
Consumer confidence of Ukrainians in October 2018 decreased to the level of early 2018, and the downward trend touched all indexes, apart from devaluation expectations. According to the materials of the monthly study of GfK Ukraine, the consumer confidence index (CCI) equaled 56.9 in October 2018, which is 5.7 points lower than the indicator in September 2018 and 5.7 points higher than in October 2017.
GfK Ukraine said that index of expectations of the country’s economic development over the next year decreased by 9.7 points and equaled 52.9.
Index of expectations of the country’s economic development over the next five years also decreased and equaled 64.3, which is 7.2 points lower than the indicator in September.
In general, in October, index of economic expectations (ІЕE) decreased by 6.6 points to the level of 57.5.
Index of propensity to consume decreased by 6.2 points and reached the indicator of 65.3, GfK Ukraine said.
Index of the current situation (ICS) decreased by 4.5 points and equaled 56.
Index of expected changes in personal financial standing decreased by 2.8 points comparing to the previous month and equaled 55.1.
In October, the expectations of Ukrainians regarding the possibility of unemployment have slightly worsened: the indicator of index of expectations of changes in unemployment equaled 136.2 that is 2.3 higher than the indicator in the previous month.
Meanwhile, index of inflationary expectations has remained mostly unchanged 190.3, which is 0.1 points lower than in the previous month.
“At the same time, the consumers corrected the devaluation expectations: the index of devaluation expectations decreased after its sharp growth in August-September,” the authors of the study said, adding that index of devaluation expectations decreased by 8.1 points and reached the level of 162.2.
GfK Ukraine has been surveying households to determine consumer confidence in Ukraine since June 2000. Some 1,000 respondents are polled.
More than a million Ukrainians have taken advantage of the visa-free regime with the EU since the introduction of a simplified system in June 2017. “More than a million Ukrainians have already taken advantage of the visa-free regime with the countries of the European Union since June 2017,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page.
The press service of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, in turn, noted that a significant increase in passenger traffic to the European Union countries was associated with the beginning of the tourist season and vacations. In addition, from July to September every year, European countries note the demand for attendance by entrants and students of their educational institutions.
As reported, 500,000 trips of Ukrainians to the European Union were recorded in mid-May 2018.
In general, there are a great number of people going to the EU by air. About 35% of Ukrainians currently choose air travel to the EU. Poland is also a popular destination for crossing the border by road. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians get into the EU countries through the border with this country.
Three quarters (76%) of respondents surveyed by Rating Sociological Group say the country is headed in the wrong direction. According to the results of the study, which was presented on Tuesday at the press center of the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency, 13% of respondents believe that things are going in the right direction in the country, and 11% had difficulty answering the question.
At the same time, residents of the central and western regions express relatively less pessimism, while attitudes were more critical in Ukraine’s southern regions.
Almost two-thirds (60%) of the Ukrainians interviewed spoke about the worsening economic situation of their families over the past six months, another 30% said that there are no changes, and only 8% said that their families have improved their economic situation over the period.
The war in eastern Ukraine remains the most important state problem in the eyes of the majority of citizens (78%). Only 55% of those polled complained about bribery and corruption as a nation-wide problem
More than half of respondents are personally concerned about the increase in prices and tariffs, as well as the low level of salaries and pensions. Issues of war in the east, low level of medical services and a lack of good jobs are personal problems for every fifth person.
The survey was conducted on June 14-24, 2018 among 2,500 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older through a formalized interview (face-to-face). The sample is representative of age, sex, region, and type of settlement. The margin of error of the survey does not exceed 2%
