70% of Ukrainians believe government can be criticised for wrong decisions even during war

A total of two thirds of Ukrainians believe that even in times of war, it is appropriate to criticise the government if it made any mistakes or wrong decisions; in May 2022, the situation was diametrically opposite.

Nov 2, 2023 - 08:32
70% of Ukrainians believe government can be criticised for wrong decisions even during war

A total of two thirds of Ukrainians believe that even in times of war, it is appropriate to criticise the government if it made any mistakes or wrong decisions; in May 2022, the situation was diametrically opposite.

Source: a sociological survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on 30 September-13 October

Quote from KIIS: "As can be seen, in May 2022 (at the beginning of the invasion), the majority of Ukrainians preferred to avoid any disputes at all. At that time, 68% believed that all disputes should be postponed, while 26% insisted on the admissibility of criticism.

Now, in October 2023, the situation became diametrically opposite: now 70% of Ukrainians consider it important to criticize possible wrong decisions of the authorities, while 25% insist on avoiding any disputes."

 
GRAPH: KIIS

Details: It is noted that the majority of people in all regions of Ukraine believe that it still makes sense to criticise possible mistakes and wrong decisions of the authorities.

 
GRAPH: KIIS

At the same time, sociologists emphasised that there was an unconditional demand among Ukrainians for unity and avoidance of internal strife. In particular, this is why 81% of Ukrainians oppose holding any elections now.  

Nevertheless, criticism of the central government's actions and the desire for "changes" are growing in Ukraine. Sociologists believe that this is due to the existence of corruption and the unwillingness of Ukrainians to keep it quiet.

"Victory remains the priority. Accordingly, this question reflects to a greater extent the expediency of constructive criticism of possible wrongful actions of the authorities. Ukrainians want constructive proposals that would correct existing mistakes and bring Ukraine closer to Victory," says Anton Hrushetskyi, KIIS Executive Director.

For reference: The study was conducted from 30 September to 13 October. 2,007 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except Crimea) were interviewed using the telephone interview method based on a random sample of mobile numbers. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived on the territory of Ukraine (within the boundaries controlled by the Ukrainian authorities until 24 February 2022). Residents of temporarily occupied territories could not be included in the sample, and the survey was not conducted with citizens abroad.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) did not exceed 2.4% for indicators close to 50%, 2.1% for indicators close to 25%, 1.5% for indicators close to 10%, and 1.1% for indicators close to 5%.

A certain systematic deviation is added in addition to the specified formal error under war conditions. However, sociologists are convinced that the results obtained still retain a high level of representativeness and allow for a fairly reliable analysis of public sentiment.

Support UP or become our patron!