IRI poll: Russia remains No1 threat to Georgia
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Georgians continue to want deeper ties to the democratic community, and the overwhelming majority of the country is for European Union (EU) and NATO integration.
Furthermore, the vast majority of the Georgian population still expected a threat of aggression from Russia.
Results of the International Republican Institute (IRI) poll reveal 62 percent of people surveyed "fully support” Georgia joining the EU, while 23 percent "somewhat support” the same idea. As for NATO, 57 percent of Georgians "fully support” and 21 percent "somewhat support” the country’s North-Atlantic direction.
The survey results were released yesterday, March 31.
The document results reflect data collected from February 3 to February 28, 2015, through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 Georgian residents aged 18 or older. The survey has an average margin of error of +/-2.5 percent. The response rate was 70 percent.
To the question "if the Parliamentary Elections were held next Sunday, which political party are you likely to vote for?” 36 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for the ruling Georgian Dream Coalition, while 14 percent noted they would choose former ruling United National Movement party.
Here are some of the other findings of the survey.
Relations with Russia
The IRI poll results showed 76 percent of people considered Russia to be the biggest threat to Georgia and 67 percent said Russian aggression towards Georgia was still ongoing.
Meanwhile 65 percent "fully support” and 20 percent "somewhat support” further dialogue with Russia.
When asked how they would rate the current Government’s handling of Georgia’s relationship with Russia, the answers were as follows:
- Very positively – 17%
- Somewhat positively – 42%
- Somewhat negatively – 18%
- Very negatively – 8%
- Don't know/No answer – 15%
Meanwhile, the United States (39%), Azerbaijan (36%) and Ukraine (33%) were the three countries the survey participants named as Georgia’s most important partners.
Economic concerns
Thirty-three percent of people surveyed believed the economic situation "worsened somewhat” during the first part of this year in Georgia. Forty-five percent said the main problem was unemployment, the fall of the Georgian currency and high taxes.
Trust in Institutions
For the people surveyed, the most trusted institutions were:
- Church (91%)
- Army (87%)
- Georgian media (82%)
- Police (65%)
Meanwhile healthcare, media freedom and agriculture were the top three areas which survey participant said were "getting better”.
In the same spirit, solving healthcare problems, providing public medical insurance, solving agriculture problems, signing the Association Agreement with the EU and providing free textbooks were assessed as the "main accomplishments” of the Georgian Government.
On the contrary to this, when asked what the Government’s biggest failures were, respondents said "unfulfilled promises”, "inflation”, "economic crisis”, "unemployment”, "deteriorating criminal situation” and "incompetence” as their answers.
Gender balance
To the question: "If there are two candidates running for office and they have the same qualifications aside from the fact that one is a man and one is a woman, which candidate are you more likely to support?”, 31 percent said they would support the man, 17 percent said they would support the woman, while 48 percent said it made no difference to them.