On November 30 – December 14, 2018, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted an all-Ukrainian public opinion poll. Data were collected from 2034 respondents living in 110 settlements (PSU) in all oblasts of Ukraine (except for the AR of Crimea) with the method of personal interviewing. The sample was stochastic, 4-staged, and it 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%.

The most trusted category among the Ukrainians is ordinary people living nearby (68%), volunteers who are helping the army and displaced people (63% and 61%), the church (51%), and the armed forces of Ukraine (51%). The least trust belongs to the government of Ukraine (11%), the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (8%) and Russian media (4%). In general, the level of trust in some institutions has changed somewhat over the year (see Table 1).

Ordinary people in your settlement. The level of trust is the highest, but the confidence level has gone down by 5 percentage points compared to 2017 (from 73% to 68%), and the trust-mistrustbalance has decreased by 9 percentage points (from 65% to 56%).

Volunteers. The level of trust is also one of the highest, but it has dropped dramatically over the last year: the balance of trust-mistrust to volunteers helping the army dropped by 6 percentage points (from 53% to 47%), the trust-mistrust balance to volunteers assisting displaced people decreased by 14 percentage points (from 61% to 47%). According to the regional distribution, the volunteers helping the army acquire the most trust in the Western region (70%), and the least trust they receive in the East (59%). On the contrary, volunteers who help displaced people are most trusted in the Eastern region (66%), and the least – in the Central (57%).

Church. The church remains one of the leaders in the trust rating of the Ukrainians throughout the years of observation. However, the trust rate has fallen by 6 percentage points (from 57% to 51%) over the past year, and the trust-mistrust balance decreased by 12 percentage points (from 40% to 28%). According to the regional distribution, the church is most trusted in the West region (69%), and the least – in Central (42%).

Armed Forces of Ukraine. The trust level did not change significantly (51%) compared to 2017, the trust-mistrust balance decreased by 6 percentage points (from 30% to 24%). According to the regional distribution, the Armed Forces are the most trusted in the Western region (62%), the least - in the Eastern (28%).

Government institutions. Government institutions (the Government and the Verkhovna Rada) traditionally receive the least trust from the population and have a very low balance of trust and mistrust (-63%). At the same time, the balance of trust to the government did not change compared to the previous year, and the balance of trust to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has slightly increased (from -77% to -72%). The pro-European opposition (“Batkivshchyna”, “Samopomich”, etc.) has a better trust-mistrust balance (24% trusts and 47% does not trust) than the opposition from the former government (“Oppozytsiynyi block”, “Za jyttia”) - 16% trust and 58% do not trust but both balances are negative.

The level of trust to the President of Ukraine is steadily low (16% trust, 70% do not trust), the balance is also negative (-54%), the situation has not changed in the course of 2017-2018. According to the regional distribution, the President of Ukraine is most trusted in the Central region (19% ), the least – in the Eastern (12%).

Graph 1. Dynamics of the level of trust in social institutions, 2017–2018