Almost 52% of Ukrainian citizens, polled in February, said their opinion of the policy, pursued by the government, is mostly or largely negative.
The opinion of 30% of respondents was partly negative and partly positive, and 14% were positive about the government’s performance, rather than negative, according to a poll, conducted recently by the Kyiv International Sociology Institute.
Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said the country is moving in the wrong direction, another 13% said the country is making no progress and only 13% said Ukraine is doing well.
The ranks of those who have a positive opinion of the government’s policies have shrunk from 48% since June 2010 to 14%, and the incidence of negative opinions has grown from 21% to 51%.
Overall, most citizens changed their attitude to the government since the middle of 2010 from positive to negative.
The change was particularly vivid in the eastern regions, where positive attitudes shrank from 70% to 17% and negatives grew from 7% to 45%.
In the southern regions, positive attitudes shrank from 68% to 18% and negative grew from 11% to 45%.
And in the central regions, positive attitudes contracted from 36% to 11%, and negative expanded from 28% to 59%.
Opinions of the government’s policies with regards to the mass media changed in eight months with the share of those who think the government is putting pressure on the media growing from 32% to 41% and of those who do not think so contracting from 35% to 23.
Only in the western regions, did opinions of the government’s policies not change particularly, with positive attitudes shrinking from 17% to 7%,and negative growing from 39% to 61%.
The poll was conducted on Feb. 9 to 18 and involved 2,040 respondents aged over 18, residing in all regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv and Crimea.
