Survey reveals Ukrainian public's attitudes, expectations (04/11/04)

Survey reveals Ukrainian public's attitudes, expectations

by Jan Maksymiuk
RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report

The Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) (http://www.ifes.org) recently presented a very interesting and thought-provoking report, "Attitudes and Expectations: Public Opinion in Ukraine 2003," authored by Rakesh Sharma and Nathan Van Dusen.

In particular, the report includes findings from a survey carried out by IFES in Ukraine among 1,265 respondents on September 10-19, 2003, on a wide range of issues related to Ukraine's progress toward a more democratic state. This as the 12th survey of this kind in Ukraine by IFES, which established its on-site presence in Kyiv in 1994. The 2003 survey and report were made possible through a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The report, which provides a plethora of tables with survey findings, examines public attitudes and expectations in the following areas: confidence in government and judicial institutions, corruption, political and economic reform, interest in politics, attitudes toward political parties and non-governmental organizations, contact with local officials, and perception of the media. It also provides a summary of regional and social variations of political attitudes in Ukraine.

The survey found that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians are either very dissatisfied (47 percent) or somewhat dissatisfied (38 percent) with the overall situation in the country. The current economic situation in Ukraine is assessed as bad or somewhat bad by 86 percent of respondents, while only 9 percent rate it as good.

IFES says its surveys since 2000 have shown a consistent preference for a market-driven economy over a centrally planned one. In 2003, 31 percent said they prefer a market economy, 21 percent prefer a centrally planned economy, and 30 percent chose a neutral point in between. However, there are still large objections to privatization of key industries and sectors in Ukraine. The privatization of the electricity sector is opposed by 65 percent of Ukrainians, the coal industry by 59 percent and collective farms by 45 percent.

Corruption is perceived as a major problem. A considerable majority of Ukrainians believe that corruption is a very serious or somewhat serious problem in hospitals (85 percent), the police (83 percent), universities (79 percent), courts (74 percent), customs authorities (67 percent) and tax authorities (66 percent).

Asked to choose five from a list of 10 statements or terms representing the meaning of democracy, respondents primarily pointed to human rights (66 percent), "everyone has work" (60 percent), "retirees are looked after by the state" (55 percent), and "no official corruption" (48 percent). IFES registered a marked increase in the percentage of Ukrainians who say that Ukraine is not a democracy: 47 percent in 2001, 53 percent in 2002, and 64 percent in 2003.

One of the survey findings is very revealing in the context of the ongoing constitutional reform in Ukraine: 62 percent of Ukrainians are unaware of the existence of a bill, or bills, mandating constitutional amendments that would change the balance of power between the presidency and Parliament, while a minority of 38 percent are aware of the issue.

The president is the least trusted among those institutions about which respondents were asked: 70 percent said they have little or no confidence in President Leonid Kuchma.

Only 23 percent of respondents say they support a specific political party, down from 31 percent in the 2002 survey. Of them, 30 percent support the Communist Party, 22 percent the Our Ukraine bloc, 10 percent the Social Democratic Party, 3 percent the Greens of Ukraine, 3 percent the Socialist Party, 2 percent National Rukh, and 2 percent the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The survey found that 16 percent of Ukrainians belong to trade unions.

Only 20 percent of Ukrainians are aware of the activities of NGOs in their communities, but this represents a significant increase compared with 12 percent in 2002.

For the first time in its surveys in Ukraine, IFES noted that more Ukrainians say they have a great deal or fair amount of information on both political and economic developments (58 percent on politics; 48 percent on economy).

Television, particularly private stations, is the major source of news and information for most Ukrainians. Respondents listed the following media outlets as their primary information sources: Inter (33 percent), 1+1 Channel (23 percent), Ukrainian newspapers (5 percent), UT-1 (5 percent), UT-2 (3 percent), UR-1 (5 percent), ORT (3 percent), New Channel (2 percent) and local television stations (2 percent).

The media are mostly rated positively by Ukrainians: 7 percent of respondents have a great deal of confidence in the media, 54 percent have a fair amount, 20 percent do not have too much confidence and 6 percent have no confidence at all. Ukrainians also perceive journalism as a risky profession: 68 percent think it is dangerous for journalists to objectively report the news, while 20 percent feel that journalists are safe in doing that.

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