IRI polls: public concerned by economic issues, Mayor Kaladze is most liked politician
According to IRI polls a big portion of Georgian voters are still undecided for whom to vote in the October 2 municipal elections. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Tweet 
Share
A new nationwide poll conducted in Georgia by the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research reveals ‘continued economic concerns and negative perceptions of growing political polarisation.’
This poll which was fielded in June 2021 prior to the start of the pre-election campaigns for the October 2021 municipal elections say that the Georgian Dream ruling party candidate for Tbilisi, Mayor Kakha Kaladze, is the most liked politician in the country.
Image: IRI.
Georgians named unemployment (45%), high prices and cost of living (20%) and poverty (8%) as the top problems.
67% of citizens said that economic policy would be among the two components of a party’s pre-election programme most likely to determine their vote in the upcoming local elections.
These findings are a clear call to action for Georgian political actors,” said Stephen Nix, Director of IRI’s Eurasia Division. “This poll demonstrates that Georgians want to see parties competing in the upcoming municipal elections put forth platforms focused on addressing economic issues.”
61% Georgians believe there is growing political polarisation in the country. Of those respondents, 97% consider this to be a bad development.
Image: IRI.
Additionally, the April 19 agreement, which represented an important step towards defusing the political tension following the October 2020 parliamentary elections, was supported by 77 percent of those who had heard of the agreement,” the IRI said.
According to the polls 89% of Georgians stating they are very likely or somewhat likely to vote in the municipal elections.
If the municipal elections were held on coming Sunday 28% would vote for the Georgian Dream ruling party, 15% for the United National Movement election bloc and nine per cent for the For Georgia political party recently founded by former PM Giorgi Gakharia.
Image: IRI.
61% of interviewees say that they are eager to see new political parties.
This survey was conducted on behalf of IRI’s Center for Insights in Survey Research by Dr. Rasa Alisauskiene of the public and market research company Baltic Surveys/The Gallup Organization between June 15 and June 30, 2021.
The fieldwork was conducted by the Institute of Polling and Marketing. Data was collected using a multistage probability sampling method through in-person, in-home interviews.
The sample consists of 1,500 Georgians eligible to vote.
The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percent, and the response rate was 74 percent.
The International Republican Institute’s (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research has conducted its first nationwide poll of Georgia since the 2020 parliamentary elections which says that 60% of Georgian citizens either ‘definitely’ (42%) or ‘somewhat’ (18%) do not support the opposition’s boycott of parliament.
The International Republican Institute (IRI), which conducted a Technical Election Assessment Mission (TEAM) during Georgia’s 2020 national parliamentary elections last year, has published its final report today.
The International Republican Institute (IRI) has released the results of a nationwide poll which revealed that 75 per cent of Georgians are very likely to vote in the upcoming municipal elections. 25 per cent of the voters who are not likely to participate in the local elections say that they ‘do not have confidence in the electoral process.’
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and CRRC Georgia have released a recent poll which says that Georgians remain concerned about economic challenges (72%) and, for the first time, Covid-19 (16%). Per the results released by NDI Georgia which were collected between December 17- 24, 2020, 39% of Georgians think the worst is yet to come from the pandemic, and almost half (41%) continue to have reservations with regard to vaccination rollout.
Recently released IRI polls show that Georgians are ‘increasingly hesitant’ to take the Covid-19 vaccine.
Georgians remain concerned about the state of the economy and healthcare, and are pessimistic about the direction of the country and the performance of institutions, polls released by the National Democratic Institute and CRRC Georgia earlier today say. According to the polls 61% are likely to vote in the October 2 municipal elections. However, 45% say that none of the parties are closest to their interests and nine per cent state that they do not know whom to vote for.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party says that their candidate for Tbilisi mayor, incumbent Kakha Kaladze, will receive 60.1% in the October 2 local elections. Per GD’s poll, the head of the United National Movement (UNM) Nika Melia, who is the joint candidate of the opposition parties for Tbilisi mayor, will receive 29.2% in self-government elections.
A new survey released by the International Republican Institute on Tuesday showed a majority of respondents in Georgia naming the European Union and the United States as the country’s “most important political partners” while highlighting Russia as a “major threat”.
Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday highlighted the importance of “objective, fact-based” public opinion surveys at the Gallup International Association annual conference, hosted in Tbilisi for the first time.