Survey shows majority of Georgians support country’s EU, NATO integration

A new survey by the International Republican Institute on Wednesday showed 64 percent of Georgian citizens “fully support” the country’s integration into NATO, while the figure for membership in the European Union is at 73 percent. 

In the same poll, 14 percent of respondents “somewhat supported” the country’s integration into NATO and 13 percent into the EU. 

Image: IRI Georgia

Seventy-seven percent named Russia as the“greatest political threat” to Georgia, while 51 percent of people noted the country’s politics were becoming more polarised.

Imedi TV, Rustavi 2 TV and Mtavari Arkhi channel were named as the most trusted domestic media outlets.

Of those surveyed, 86 percent said they could speak English and 42 percent said they were able to communicate in Russian. 

The survey also showed 39 percent of citizens believed the country was heading in the right direction and 54 percent thought it was on a wrong course.

Image: IRI Georgia.

In other questions, 59 percent described the current economic situation of their household as “somewhat good” and 27 percent as “somewhat bad”. 

The 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 Organisation, with the respondents contacted between September 14-October 14.

The effort included 1,200 face-to-face interviews of Georgian citizens aged over 18, and was funded by the United States Agency for International Development.