One of the most popular problems faced by sociologists in the modern world is the interpretation of survey results, especially through the prism of loud headlines in the media. The data of the survey published yesterday, which KIIS conducted on behalf of the “Democratic Initiatives” Foundation (which received financial support from the Prague Center of Civil Society), is a vivid example of this. Therefore, we would like to once again provide a more correct sociological interpretation. (We also recommend that you read the post of Tymofii Brik from the Kyiv School of Economics.)

So, first of all, regarding the wording of the question itself. Respondents had to answer the question "Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?", where one of the statements was "The President is directly responsible for corruption in the government, military administrations" (answer options - agree, rather agree, rather disagree, disagree + there was an opportunity to refuse to answer or to say "it's hard to say").

Second, about the "content" behind the question. Many interpreters have equated "responsibility" with "involvement", although this is not the case. There is still a desire among Ukrainians to have a strong leader who is expected to take decisive action. At the same time, there is a tangible demand among the public to fight corruption. In addition, Ukrainians mostly have a poor understanding of public administration and who is responsible for what and where they can exert influence. Therefore, as usual, Ukrainians personalize in the person of the President (especially one who enjoys high support) exactly who, in their opinion, is capable and should bring the necessary changes. That is, now this question reflects the request and call of the public to the President to take decisive actions aimed at fighting corruption.

Thirdly, it is necessary to understand the general political context and political consequences. Currently, V. Zelenskyi maintains a record high level of support (80-85% trust or approval of the activity, depending on the wording of the question). When asked by the population to update the central government, only a quarter would like to change the President after the Victory. That is, now the call to the President to fight corruption does not mean a decrease and a crisis of support (however, of course, in the long term and especially after the Victory and after the change of the agenda, there may be significant changes).

Fourthly, the issue of corruption is complex and it is also important to look at the dynamics of the situation. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the results of the survey "The state of corruption in Ukraine. Perception, experience, attitude", conducted by the Public Activity Promotion Program "Join!" (within the USAID project). In particular, indeed, for 89% of the population, corruption is now a very or rather a serious problem. At the same time, when asked about responsibility for overcoming corruption, which was in a different format, most respondents also spoke about the President / his Office. Most consider corruption to be widespread in Ukraine, although from 2021 to 2023 the share of those who consider it to be "very widespread" decreased from 63% to 43%. Also, during this period, the share of those who believe that the authorities are rather effective in fighting corruption in Ukraine has increased from 25% to 50%. Therefore, the situation is quite complex and it is worth avoiding noisy simple conclusions.