Two-thirds of Ukrainians are aware that the Verkhovna Rada has recently introduced constitutional amendments concerning power decentralization, according to the findings of a September survey conducted by sociologists at the Razumkov Center.
According to the poll findings, 66.5 percent of respondents are aware of the passage of the constitutional amendments; 2 percent of respondents participated in their discussion; 35.6 percent did not but would like to and 62.3 percent would not like to participate in such a discussion.
Four point four per cent of respondents are well acquainted with the content of the constitutional amendments; 43.9 percent have heard something about them; 27.9 percent know almost nothing; 23.6 percent know nothing at all about them.
To one degree or another, the proposed amendments are favored by 21 percent of the respondents (4 percent support them entirely; 17 percent rather support them), and they are opposed one way or another by 32.1 percent (14 percent oppose them entirely and 18.1 percent rather oppose them). Forty-six point nine per cent of respondents have not mind up their minds on this issue.
Among those well acquainted with the content of the amendments or those who heard at least something about their content, 33.7 percent favor the amendments and 41.1 percent are opposed; 25.2 percent have not made up their minds.
When asked, “Do you favor the introduction of the following constitutional provision, ‘The specifics of local self-government in the separate districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions shall be determined by a separate law’?”, 24.2 percent of respondents said Yes, 44.4 percent said No and 31.4 percent were undecided.
This provision was mostly favored by respondents living in central (13.5 percent favor, 57.8 percent are opposed) and western Ukraine (21.7 percent and 54.9 percent, respectively). In the east, this provision is favored by 29.6 percent and opposed by 37.2 percent. In the south, those who favor this provision and those who do not are almost equally divided: 30.7 percent and 27.4 percent, respectively. Only in Donbas is it favored by a relative majority of respondents, 39.7 percent and 21.8 percent, respectively.
Forty-one point five percent of the respondents believe that the constitutional amendments must be approved by the president and parliament, but after a broad public debate; 37.2 percent, by a referendum and 3.6 percent said they must be approved by the president and parliament without public participation.
The poll was conducted among 2,008 respondents aged over 18 across all Ukrainian regions by the Razumkov Center under the auspices of the Swedish government on Sept. 12-19.
Meanwhile, a social poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KMIS) on Sept. 17-27 revealed that leading by a large margin in the presidential rating are the incumbent president, Petro Poroshenko, and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
According to the poll findings unveiled at a press conference on Monday, 13.7 percent would vote for Poroshenko and 11.1 percent for Tymoshenko. Four point eight percent of respondents would cast their votes for the Opposition Bloc leader, Yuriy Boyko; 4.7 percet for Samopomich leader Andriy Sadovyi; 4.4 percent for Civil Position leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko; 4.3 percent for Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh and 4.2 percent for Radical Party leader Oleh Liashko. The other candidates muster less than 2 percent.
Also, 4.2 percent of all respondents would strike all the candidates out and ruin the ballot, 14.4 percent would not go to the polls and 27.3 percent have not made up their minds.
Among those who would go to the polls, 25.3 percent would vote for Poroshenko, 20.5 percent for Tymoshenko; all other candidates muster less than 9 percent of the votes.
KMIS spokesman Anton Hrushetsky said that Poroshenko and Tymoshenko have the biggest chance of reaching the second round of a presidential election.
The poll was conducted among 2,041 respondents aged above 18 in all Ukrainian regions.
