The majority is for entering the EU. Communists’ popularity rises

Though summer is in full swing and our compatriots are in the mood for the beach, sociologists keep researching public opinion and pose far from light-minded questions before people. For example, should Ukraine create a joint free trade zone together with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan? According to the data from a poll of 2062 persons aged 16 and over conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from June 6 to 15, 76% of those surveyed believe creating such a zone is the right thing to do. Most supporters of this idea frequently discussed by Ukraine’s leaders were among those aged from 45 to 60 and residents of the South and East.

Data of another poll conducted by Oleksandr Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Research on June 1-8 among 2011 persons aged 18 and over are evidence of somewhat different vector of Ukrainian foreign policy expectations. According to them, the majority (64.8%) of Ukrainians believes that Ukraine should enter the European Union.

It should be recalled that such duality is characteristic for public opinion about other spheres of our life as well, which is probably explained by a certain confusion of those polled.

Further evidence that this summer our people are concerned not only with seeking literally their place under the sun are fluctuations in Ukrainians’ electoral preferences demonstrated by their answers to a traditional KIIS question, What would you do if presidential elections were held next week and the ballot included such and such candidates? Last month the expected candidate from the Communist Party of Ukraine Petro Symonenko got extra points. In the opinion of the head of the KIIS Political Analysis Department Mykhailo Mishchenko, Symonenko’s increasing popularity rating (from 10.4% to 13.6%) is connected with the June confusion on the cereals and flour market. This hypothesis, the sociologist believes, is proved by the fact that traditionally Symonenko’s voters are people with low living standards most of whom “don’t have enough money even for food.” The number of the Communist candidate’s potential supporters has grown precisely in this category (from 14% to 20%). Among those who “can afford food but not clothes or shoes” their number has also increased by 3%. Sociologists do not yet make any forecasts as to whether the rating of the Left will keep growing but advise those in power to make sure that there are no more prices’ spurts or other excesses able to shatter the already precarious well-being of most Ukrainian citizens before the elections.