Reforms in Ukraine: public opinion

The Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the Razumkov Center conducted research on May 19-25, 2018 in all oblasts of Ukraine with the exception of occupied Crimea and the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. 2,019 respondents from the age of 18 years and older were polled. The theoretical sample error was not higher than 2.3%.

The polling was conducted with the financial support of the “ENGAGE” program for promoting civic activity, which is financed by USAID and is implemented by Pact Ukraine.

For comparison, we provide the results of polling conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation jointly with the sociological service of the Razumkov Center on July 22-27, 2015 and May 11-16, 2016, as well as with the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from October 23 to November 5, 2017. 

• The majority of Ukrainians do not believe in the success of reforms. 5% of respondents are convinced of their success, 29% also believe in them, although with certain doubts. 38% do not believe that reforms will be successful but still hope they might be, and 23% do not believe at all that such reforms will be successful. However, it must be noted that the number of people who do not have faith in the success of reforms fell considerably in comparison with the last year (30% – in 2015, 28% – in 2016, 40% – in 2017).
• According to public opinion, the biggest obstacles to the implementation of reforms are bureaucracy (39%) and oligarchs (39%). A significant number of Ukrainians also feels that the government (31%) and the President (24%) are also obstructing reforms. At the same time among the key reform drivers Ukrainians mention the Cabinet of Ministers (31%), the President (24%), the common people (25%), non-government organizations and volunteers (25%), Western countries (25%), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (24%).  Comparing with last year’s results, there are substantial changes only in the attitudes toward Western countries: today more people believe (a 7% increase) the West pushes reforms in Ukraine. If positive public assessment of the role of the different institutions and agents, which play a role in advancing reforms, is compared against their negative perception as obstructers of reforms, then non-governmental organizations and volunteers (+22%), Western countries (+21%), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (+21%) and the common people (+19%) have the biggest positive balances.  
• One third of the population (33%) is ready to tolerate further decline in the standard of living for the sake of the success of reforms (8% of them are ready to endure hardships as long as it takes, while 24% say they can sustain the pressure no more than a year). Meanwhile, 32% can no longer undergo the deteriorating welfare situation, and 30% would not accept further pain because they do not believe in success of the reforms. Compared with November 2017, the share of people who have been somewhat ready to tolerate hardships for the sake of reform increased (by 5%), and the number of those who felt that their welfare status was intolerable, decreased (from 37% to 32%).
• The hierarchy of the most important reforms for Ukrainians has remained stable for four years: 58% of the population considers the anti-corruption reform most important. Among other important reforms are healthcare reform (46%), pensions and social security reform (44%, last year – 36%), law enforcement reform (32%), lustration of the government officials (29%, last year – 22%), reform of the army and strengthening of defense capabilities (21.5%). However, people are very skeptical about the success of these top reforms: only 7% say that the pension reform is successful, 6% say the same about healthcare reform, and 6,5% – about defense reform. 69% of the polled say that none of the reforms are successful (last year – 77%).
• Public attitudes toward the reforms that have just been implemented are mostly negative: while 33% of respondents fully or partly support educational reform, 44% fully or partly refuse to back it (the remaining 23% either do not know about this reform or could not answer the question). As for the pension reform, 25% of Ukrainians fully or partly support it, while 57% have a negative attitude toward it (the remaining 17% either are not aware of such reform or could not give an answer). The healthcare reform is supported by 26% of the people; however, 61% of Ukrainians do not uphold it (the remaining 13% are either unaware of such reform or could not respond).
• 29% of the population signed a framework agreement with doctors for medical services, which is required by the healthcare reform. Half of those who did not sign the agreement do not know how to do it.
• Only 10% of Ukrainians are fully satisfied with how government informs society about its work and reforms. Meanwhile 47% of citizens (a 9% increase from 2017) think that the information provided by the government does not correspond to reality. 30% of the people consider that such information is not sufficient and another 25% complain that such information is vague or difficult to understand. At the same time 9% of the people are convinced that experts, and not the common people, should be interested in such information.  
• The majority of Ukrainians (65%) thinks that the government should provide the maximum of free-of-cost services – education, medicine, and pensions –  even if taxes are increased, while 23% of those polled disagrees with such a statement. And only the minority (21%) supports the opposite statement – that the role of the state should be minimized by lowering taxation of people, who would then have money to pay for education, medical services and accumulate their pension payouts.
• 77% of the population considers that the majority of Ukrainians cannot survive without the care and support of the government, while 13% have the opposite point of view.
• At the same time, public opinion is divided about the role of the government: 44% of Ukrainians agree that “the government should be fully responsible for every citizen by guaranteeing his/her basic social welfare”, while 45% feel that “the government should guarantee fair “rules of the game” in life and then a person is responsible for how to take advantage of the opportunities”.
• 26% of Ukrainian citizens agree to give up some of their rights and freedoms to the government in exchange for their well-being, while 35% are ready to tolerate certain hardships and keep their personal freedom and civil rights. Meanwhile, 39% are undecided regarding these alternatives. 

Opinion poll results