Conducted Researches

From the 1st till the 8th of February 2008 the specialists of Research & Branding Group had been conducted the tenth wave of the public opinion poll in Ukraine on socio-political issues of current importance.
Data was collected by personal interviewing in 24 regions of Ukraine and Autonomy Crimea. Respondents were chosen by quota sampling representing the adult population of the country according to place of living (region), gender and age. The quota is composed of 2000 persons. The estimated average error amounts to +2,2%.

The dynamics of some data are represented in the press-release as results of some waves of the national research.
 At the moment both political and economic situations in the country are perceived negatively in general by the citizens. In comparison with the end of 2007 in February 2008 the quantity of those who consider the political situation as unstable (by 7%) and the economic situation as bad in general (by 4%) has slightly increased.
 The increase of quantity of those who consider the political situation in the country to be unstable in general in comparison with the end of 2007 was caused by the citizens of the central and south-eastern regions. At the same time negative attitude prevails in the western regions as well (57%).
 In assessments of the economic situation in the country different tendencies can be observed in different regions. In the West the quantity of those who consider the economic situation as bad has decreased (from 58% in December 2007 to 48% in February 2008) while it has increased in the South-East (from 63% in December 2007 to 75% in February 2008). In the central regions there were no significant changes in assessments during last 2 months.
 The results of the omnibus prove that the quantity of those Ukrainians who are in general satisfied with their lives remains stable during last months.
 It is significant that the citizens of the country are tending to more positive assessments of their lives than of the political and economic situation in the country.
 At the moment the Ukrainians are mostly concerned by the socio-economic problems (stable prices, struggle with poverty, decrease of the unemployment level, improvement of the social orientation of the state, quality of social services etc.).
 In case the parliament election took place on the nearest Sunday, the entry barrier would be definitely overcome by BJuT and the Party of regions and most likely by NU-NS. CPU and Block of Litvin are close to overcoming the entry barrier.
At the beginning of the year the most important and resonant events in the life of the country were start of redemptions of the cheap deposits to the citizens-depositors of the Savings bank of the USSR and the parliament crisis which was caused by the letter to the General Secretary of NATO signed by the President of Ukraine, the prime-minister and the chairman of VRU about giving Ukraine the possibility to join the Action plan for becoming an alliance member at the NATO meeting in Bucharest.
 The citizens of all regions in the country have generally positive attitude to the start of redemptions of the cheap deposits to the citizens-depositors of the Savings bank of the USSR. Although the organization of redemptions was evaluated as unsatisfactory by almost 50% citizens of the country.
 More than 50% citizens have not taken the possibility to receive cheap deposits yet but they are going to do it in the nearest future.
 Almost 50% citizens of the country have generally negative attitude to the letter about giving Ukraine the possibility to join the Action plan for becoming a NATO member.
 At that the quantity of negative assessments of this event rapidly increases from the West (18%) to the South-East (71%).
 In general the nation consider the letter to the General Secretary of NATO about giving Ukraine the possibility to join the Action plan for becoming the alliance member to contribute to intensifying the split in the Ukrainian society and to lead to worsening relationships with Russia.
 The citizens of the country suppose that they in particular are entitled to take the final decision about joining or not joining to any military-political block.
 Ukraine joining / not joining NATO has different importance for the citizens of different regions. On the South-East 46% consider this issue as not important for the country at the moment, on the West on the contrary – 47% consider it as important.
 The citizens of the country don’t think that it is necessary to take the final decision about Ukraine joining/ not joining NATO in the nearest future. They think it should be taken after detailed information of the society about NATO targets and activity.
 If the referendum about Ukraine’s entry into NATO took place on the nearest Sunday, more than 50% citizens of the country would vote against it.
The quarrel between the Kiev mayor and the Minister of the Interior at the President’s Secretariat became an uncommon event in the political life of the country lately.

 The citizens of all regions of the country demonstrated the high level of awareness about the conflict between the Kiev mayor L. Chernovetskiy and the Minister of the Interior Y. Lutsenko.
 More than 50% respondents consider both politicians to behave unworthy and therefore both of them or none of them should be punished (prosecuted).
 The most popular gifts which the citizens of the country are going to give their friends and families to St. Valentine’s Day are sweets, perfumes, souvenirs.