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Attitude of the population of Ukraine toward Russia and of the population of Russia toward Ukraine, September 2017

Press release by Volodymyr Paniotto

 

The number of the Ukrainians who hold positive attitude to Russia has slightly decreased since May 2017 and in September 2017 was 37% (in May it was 44%). The number of positively disposed to Ukraine people in Russia slightly increased, and in September 2017 it was 32% (it was 26% in May). The attitude of the Ukrainian population to Russia have been better than the attitude of Russia's population towards Ukraine since 2008.

Compared to May 2017, the support for the independence of Ukraine practically did not change: almost 90% of the population believe that Ukraine should be an independent state. At the same time, the number of those who want closed borders and customs with Russia is 49% (it was 43% before). In Russia, compared to May 2017, the number of those who want closed borders and customs with Ukraine has not changed much (decreased from 35% to 34%).

Press release contains the results of a conjoint project of Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and Russian non-governmental research organization “Levada-Centr”.

On September 16 – October 1, 2017 Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted an all-Ukrainian public opinion poll. Data were collected from 2040 respondents living in 108 settlements (PSU) in all oblasts of Ukraine (except for the AR of Crimea) with the method of personal interviewing. The sample was stochastic and is representative of the population of Ukraine aged 18 and above.

In Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts survey was conducted only in the territories that are controlled by the Ukrainian government.

The statistical sampling error (with a probability of 0.95 and for a design effect of 1.5) does not exceed:

3.3% — for indexes close to 50%,

2.8% — for indexes close to 25%,

2.0% — for indexes close to 10%,

1.4% — for indexes close to 5%.

“Levada-Centr” conducted the poll on September 15-19, 2017 with the sample of 1602 people aged 18 and above, that is representative for the population of Russia.

During the study, the Ukrainians, as usual, were asked: “What is your general attitude toward Russia now?”, and the questions for the Russians was: “What is your general attitude toward Ukraine now?”.

  • In September 2017, 37% of the Ukrainians responded they had very positive or mostly positive attitude to Russia, 46% had very negative or mostly negative attitude, 17% were undecided. In Russia, 32% of the population have very positive or mostly positive attitude to Ukraine, 53% - very negative or mostly negative, 15% have not decided on that matter.

  • The attitude of the Ukrainians to Russia depends significantly on the region: positive attitude hold 31% of the Western region, 31% of the Central region, 45% of the South region, 54% of the Eastern region.

  • The attitude of the population of Ukraine to Russia remains better than the attitude of the population of Russia to Ukraine during the whole period of observation (since 2008, see Graph 1): the amount of positively disposed Ukrainians decreased from 44% to 37% since May 2017, the amount of positively disposed Russians increased from 26% to 32%.

 

Graph 1. Dynamics of the positive attitude of the population of Ukraine to Russia and the population of Russia to Ukraine (% of those who relate to the other country very positively or mostly positively)


 

The dynamics of answers to the question “What type of the relations between Ukraine and Russia would you prefer?” 

  • Compared to May 2017, support for the independence of Ukraine practically did not change: almost 90% of the population believe that Ukraine should be an independent state. At the same time, the number of those who want closed borders and customs with Russia is 49% (it was 43% in May), while the number of those who want friendly relations between two independent states with open borders without visas and customs is 40% (in May there were 47 %). Also, 4% of the polled Ukrainians want to join two states in one country (it was 4% in May as well).

  • Support for Ukraine's independence from Russia (see Graph 2) increased from 83% to 92% since February 2014 till December 2014, and then it stabilized at 90% (with the fluctuations within the sampling error).

 

Graph 2. What type of the relations with Russia does the population of Ukraine prefer?*

* Line on the graph «Ukraine and Russia should be independent states” is a sum of the first two columns of  Table 6, that is, the percentage of those who want the independence with closed borders and customs and of those who prefer the independence without borders and customs (see tables below).

 

  • Compared to May 2017, the number of those Russians who want closed borders and customs with Ukraine (was 35%, became 34%) and the number of those who prefer friendly relations with Ukraine (was 50%, became 49%) has not changed much. As to other options, the situation has not changed – the unification in one country is a preferable option for 9% of the Russians (same was in May 2017).

 

 

Addition 1. Formulations of the questions from the questionnaire

 

What type of the relations between Ukraine and Russia would you prefer?  ONE ANSWER 

Relations should be the same as with other countries - with closed borders, visa and customs 1
Ukraine and Russia should be independent but friendly states - with no visa, no customs and with open borders 2
Ukraine and Russia should unite in one country 3
DIFFICULT TO SAY/ REFUSAL FROM ANSWERING 9

 

What is your general attitude toward Russia now?

Very positive 1  Mostly negative 3 DIFFICULT TO SAY  9
Mostly positive 2  Very negative 4    

 

 

TABLES

 

Table 1. What is your general attitude toward Ukraine/Russia? 

IN UKRAINE TOWARD RUSSIA, % IN RUSSIA TOWARD UKRAINE,%
Date Very positive/ mostly positive Mostly negative/ very negative DIFFICULT TO SAY TOTAL Date Very positive/ mostly positive Mostly negative/ very negative DIFFICULT TO SAY TOTAL
Apr.08 88 7 5 100 Mar.08 55 33 12 100
Sep.08 88 9 3 100 Sep.08 38 53 10 100
Feb.09 91 5 4 100 Jan.09 29 62 10 100
May.09 93 4 3 100 May.09 33 56 11 100
Oct.09 92 6 3 100 Sep.09 46 44 10 100
Mar.10 90 6 4 100 Mar.10 59 29 12 100
Jun.10 92 6 3 100 Jul.10 70 22 9 100
Oct.10 93 4 3 100 Oct.10 67 21 12 100
Nov.11 80 13 7 100 Sep.11 68 23 9 100
Feb.12 85 9 6 100 Jan.12 64 25 12 100
Sep.12 83 11 6 100 Sep.12 74 17 10 100
Feb.13 85 8 7 100 Feb.13 69 21 9 100
May.13 81 10 9 100 May.13 72 18 9 100
Nov.13 82 10 8 100 Sep.13 69 22 8 100
Feb.14 78 13 9 100 Jan.14 66 26 9 100
May.14 52 38 10 100 May.14 35 49 17 100
Sep.14 48 41 11 100 Sep.14 32 55 13 100
Dec.14 37 48 16 100 Jan. 15 24 63 13 100
Feb.15 34 51 15 100 Mar.15 31 56 13 100
May.15 30 56 14 100 May.15 26 59 14 100
Sep.15 34 53 13 100 Sep.15 33 56 11 100
Feb.16 36 47 13 100 Feb.16 27 59 14 100
May.16 42 43 15 100 May.16 39 47 13 100
Sep.16 40 46 14 100 Sep.16 26 56 17 100
Dec.16 40 47 13 100 Dec.16 34 54 13 100
Feb.17 39 46 15 100 Jan.17 34 54 13 100
May.17 44 37 19 100 May.17 26 59 15 100
Sep.17 37 46 17 100 Sep.17 32 53 15 100

 

 

Table 2. What is your general attitude toward Russia now?  Distribution by macro regions of Ukraine, %

  Ukraine in general, % Western Central South Eastern
Very positive 7.0 2.2 4.8 9.5 18.1
Mostly positive 30.2 28.6 25.7 35.1 36.2
Mostly negative 23.5 27.7 27.5 17.8 15.1
Very negative 22.5 25.8 25.0 21.1 11.3
DIFFICULT TO SAY 16.8 15.8 16.9 16.6 19.2
TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100


Table 3. What type of the relations between Ukraine and Russia would you prefer?

  IN UKRAINE
Date Relations should be the same as with other countries - with closed borders, visa and customs Ukraine and Russia should be independent but friendly states - with no visa, no customs and with open borders Ukraine and Russia should unite in one country Difficult to say Total
Apr.08 10 67 20 3 100
Sep.08 17 66 16 2 100
Feb.09 8 68 23 1 100
May.09 10 65 23 2 100
Oct.09 11 67 19 3 100
Mar.10 11 67 19 3 100
Jun.10 12 70 16 2 100
Oct.10 10 67 20 2 100
Nov.11 13 67 16 1 100
Feb.12 13 69 16 2 100
Sep.12 11 72 14 3 100
Feb.13 13 68 16 3 100
May.13 11 69 14 5 100
Nov.13 12 73 9 6 100
Feb.14 15 68 12 5 100
May.14 32 54 8 5 100
Sep.14 45 44 5 6 100
Dec.14 50 42 3 5 100
Feb. 15 48 43 4 6 100
May.15 45 46 2 7 100
Sep.15 46 45 2 7 100
Feb.16 42 43 4 11 100
May.16 44 44 3 9 100
Sep.16 49 43 3 6 100
Dec.16 45 46 3 7 100
Feb.17 47 43 2 7 100
May.17 43 47 4 6 100
Sep.17 49 40 4 8 100

 

 

  IN RUSSIA
Date Relations should be the same as with other countries - with closed borders, visa and customs Russia and Ukraine should be independent but friendly states - with no visa, no customs and with open borders Ukraine and Russia should unite in one country Difficult to say Total
Mar.08 19  56  19  100
Sep.08 24  52  13  11  100
Jan.09 29  51  12  100
Jun. 09  25  55  14  100
Sep. 09  25  55  13  100
Jan. 10  25  55  14  100
May. 10  17  64  13  100
Sep. 10  16  60  18  100
Sep.11 16 63 14 6 100
Jan.12 16 61 16 8 100
Sep.12 14 60 20 6 100
Feb.13 13 64 18 6 100
May.13 19 58 15 8 100
Sep.13 23 55 16 6 100
Jan.14 19 59 16 6 100
May.14 28 54 12 6 100
Sep.14 26 62 7 5 100
Jan. 15 32 53 7 8 100
May.15 30 54 10 6 100
Sep.15 25 59 8 7 100
Feb.16 32 52 11 5 100
May.16 36 53 7 4 100
Sep.16 39 48 8 6 100
Dec.16 33 53 9 5 100
Jan.17 33 53 9 5 100
May.17 35 50 9 5 100
Sep.17 34 49 11 6 100

Western macroregion –  Volynska, Zakarpatska, Ivano-Frankivska, Lvivska, Rivnenska, Ternopilska, Khmelnytska, Chernivets`ka oblasts (regions); Central macroregion –  Kyiv city, Kyivs`ka, Vinnytska, Zhytomyrska, Kirovohradska, Poltavska, Sumska, Cherkaska, Chernihivska oblasts; South macroregion – Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka, Mykolaivska, Odeska, Khersonska oblasts; Eastern macroregion –  Kharkivska, Donetska, Luhanska oblasts (only regions controlled by Ukraine).

 

Table 4. What type of the relations between Ukraine and Russia would you prefer? Distribution by regions, September 2017. %

 

  Ukraine in general, % Western Central South Eastern
Relations should be the same as with other countries 48.4 65.2 55.5 34.5 21.8
Ukraine and Russia should be independent but friendly states 39.9 23.8 34.5 53.5 61.3
Ukraine and Russia should unite in one country 3.7 1.8 4.0 2.8 8.3
DIFFICULT TO SAY 7.5 9.2 5.6 7.9 8.6
DENIAL FROM ANSWERING 0.5 0 0.4 1.4 0
TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100

 

 

 


30.10.2017
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