Both the ruling Party of Regions and its chief adversary, the Batkivschyna (Fatherland) party, lost much of their support last month, and only about 40% of Ukrainians knew clearly which part of the political spectrum their sympathies lay with, an opinion poll suggests.
Only 38% of respondents in the poll, conducted by GfK company, would have known who to vote for in a presidential election, while 26% would not have voted at all, 22% would have voted against everyone, and 14% would not have known who to vote for, the three latter categories adding up to 62% compared with a 49% proportion in a December 2010 survey.
President Viktor Yanukovych’s approval rating dropped to 13.4% in June from 16.1% in May, and the rating of the Batkivschyna leader, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, fell to 9.6% from 11.1%.
Also, only 38% of respondents would have known which party to vote for in hypothetical parliamentary elections, while 16% would not have gone to the polls, 24% would have voted against all the parties, and 22% would not have known which party to vote for. The boycotters, protesters and undecided made up 62% compared with 45% in the December 2010 poll.
The Party of Regions’ rating slid to 11.7% in June from 14.2% in May, and Batkivschyna rating edged down to 9% from 11.3%.
GfK said 67% of respondents had no confidence in Yanukovych and 70% did not trust Tymoshenko.
Only 8% of respondents in June’s poll compared with 17% in the December 2010 survey thought Ukraine was on the right path, while 67% of those questioned in June’s survey took the opposite attitude.
GfK questioned 1,000 people aged over 16 in personal interviews on June 2-16, with the respondents’ age, region of residence and the size of their city, town or village being among the criteria.
