For by the results survey of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 41% of Ukrainians believe that the country is moving in the direction of authoritarianism, while 50% – in the direction of democracy or the growth of democracy. Another 9% of respondents could not decide on an answer.
Among citizens who do not trust the president, the vast majority hold the opinion of authoritarian tendencies: this is the opinion of 82% of those who do not trust the president at all, and 84% of those who rather do not trust the head of state. On the other hand, among those who fully trust the president, 76% speak of democratic progress, and only 7% speak of authoritarianism. In the “rather trusting” group, 50% point to a democratic vector, while 41% – to an authoritarian one.
Respondents who believe that the country is moving towards authoritarianism were asked an additional open-ended question about the reasons for such an assessment. Restrictions on freedom of speech and pressure on mass media (18%), concentration of power (14%), general dissatisfaction with events in the country (13%), corruption (12%), TCC activities and mobilization (12%), as well as unspecified restriction of rights and freedoms (12%) were most often mentioned. The absence of elections was mentioned by only 4%, as was the persecution of the opposition; another 1% specifically mentioned sanctions and pressure on Petro Poroshenko.
The survey also showed that among those who consider Ukraine authoritarian, more are ready to make concessions on the issue of territorial losses. Thus, 32% of them allow the official recognition of certain occupied territories as part of Russia, and the same number are ready to transfer under the control of the Russian Federation cities that have not yet been occupied, such as Kherson or Zaporizhzhia. Among supporters of the democratic vector, such positions are much rarer — 15% and 9%, respectively.
The survey was conducted by telephone in the period from May 28 to June 3 among the adult population of Ukraine living in the government-controlled territory. A total of 1,092 respondents aged 18 and over were interviewed. The sample did not include residents of temporarily occupied territories and citizens who left the country after February 24, 2022 (although some respondents are internally displaced persons). The formal statistical error is up to 3.9% depending on the indicator, but due to martial law, a certain systematic deviation is possible.
