Almost 70% of Ukrainians say the country is moving in the wrong direction

The Gorshenin Institute conducted a survey in mid-February and found out that almost 70% of Ukrainians believe that the country is moving in a wrong direction, while 39% of those 70% are sure in it.

The survey results show that only one-fifth of the polled people perceive the developments in the country positively. 20.4% of the respondents say Ukraine has chosen the right vector, of which 5.5% are sure in it and 14.9% said ‘rather yes.’

Only 21.2% trust in the reforms conducted in the country, of which 3.4% said “certainly yes” while 17.8% said “rather yes.” 71.5% of the polled said no reforms are conducted, of which 29.9% said “rather no,” while 41.6% said “certainly no.”

Experts of the Gorshenin Institute say most of the respondents are not ready to sacrifice their welfare for reforms. Only one-fifth (22.1%) of the society is ready to suffer financial difficulties for successful reforms. Nearly three-fourth of the population is not ready for it (73.1%). This creates wide opportunities for the forces striving for populism.

The survey was conducted on Feb 8-17 2016 among 2,000 respondents above 18 in all the regions of Ukraine, except Crimea and the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics. The margin of error does not exceed 2.2%.

According to EADaily, the institute conducted a similar poll a year ago and received the following figures. In February 2015, 20.2% of the respondents said reforms are conducted in the country, while 70.8% said the opposite. It is noteworthy that in 2015, 44.0% of the polled said “rather no” versus 29.9% in 2016 and 26.8% said “certainly no” versus 41.6% in 2016.