MINSK, 10 February (BelTA) – Only 6.5% of Belarusians link a decline in welfare with the government activities, head of the analytical center EcooM Sergei Musiyenko told media while commenting on the results of the sociological study "Social Thinking" conducted in the run-up to the Belarusian People's Congress, BelTA has learned.
“The majority of respondents, 64.9%, believe that the economic situation in the country has deteriorated. The deterioration of their own financial situation was stated by 50.6% of the respondents. Some 29.2% indicated that their financial situation has not changed. As many as 16.9% responded that the citizens themselves were to blame. Only 6.5% of respondents attribute the decline in welfare to the government activities, while 4.5% - to the activities of the president,” said Sergei Musiyenko. He also noted that the deteriorating economic situation is a global trend associated with the pandemic.
In case of further deterioration of the economic situation a total of 63.5% of respondents intend to look for another way of improving it on their own. “Only 6% indicated that, being in such a situation, they would join organizations seeking a change of power in the country,” said the EcooM director.
The national public opinion poll was commissioned by the BelTA news agency. It was conducted from 12 January to 8 February by the analytical center EcooM with the involvement of the Ukrainian Policy Foundation and in cooperation with the sociological centers accredited in Belarus. Using paper questionnaires and tablets, pollsters interviewed 9,896 respondents in 108 localities of all regions of Belarus, sampling the Belarusian population older than 18 by gender, age, level of education, municipality size and region. Statistical sampling error does not exceed 2.5%.
The two-stage field survey was preceded by the pilot telephone survey to prepare the necessary tools and build up the tactics for collecting primary sociological information.
The first stage featured a territorial survey of the economically active population. Following the first stage a decision was taken to conduct the second stage with a wider coverage of different categories of citizens. Respondents were asked to fill in formal questionnaires. Pollsters also asked respondents of their needs and expectations, and collected proposals to improve the government policy in various fields. The emphasis was on open-ended questions.
