Poll: Ukrainians treat joining EU and Customs Union equally

Ukrainian citizens are split roughly equally on Ukraine's chances of joining the European Union or the Customs Union.

According to the poll, which was conducted by Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with Oleksandr Razumkov Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies, 45.2% of Ukrainians are for integration with the Customs Union, while 35.7% are against, and 19.1% have not decided yet.

In turn, 43.8% of those polled have a positive attitude to entering the EU, while 37.9% have a negative attitude, and 18.2% found it difficult to answer.

A possibility of Ukraine's entering NATO is supported just by 13.3% of Ukrainians; 64.9% do not support this idea; and 21.8% found it difficult to answer.

Moreover, 53.8% of citizens are against granting the Russian language the status of an official one; 38.4% support this idea; and 7.8% found it difficult to answer.

Some 47.3% of respondents do not support a proposal to impeach Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych; 34.1% support; and 18.6% found it difficult to answer this question.

Another 47.2% of Ukrainians consider democracy most desirable type of state formation for the country; while 21.8% said that under certain circumstances an authoritarian regime could be better than the democratic one.

Furthermore, 49.2% of citizens said that state management and market methods in economic policy should be united; 22% said that it was necessary to return to a centrally planned economy; and 10.5% said that state's participation in the country's economic life should be minimized.

From Aug. 10 to Aug. 15, sociologists polled 2,009 respondents over eighteen years old in all Ukrainian regions. The study was conducted in 132 residential areas (79 towns and 53 villages). The poll's margin of error does not exceed 2.3%.