MINSK, 16 December (BelTA) - More than 70% of Belarusians have a negative attitude to the West's sanctions against Belarus, Sergei Musiyenko, director of the EcooM think tank, told the media as he commented on the results of the opinion poll "Belarus. A Vision of the Future”, BelTA has learned.
Survey participants across all the country's regions and age groups expressed a negative attitude (71.3%) to the introduction of sanctions against Belarus (55.1% - negative, 16.2% - rather negative).
16.8% found it difficult to answer. 8.5% kept neutral. Some 1.5% were positive about sanctions, 1.4% - rather positive.
“I would like to look into the eyes of those 1.5% who answered positively. It means they have expressed a positive attitude to the fact that the situation in the country would worsen. We see that there are such people in society, and the poll reflected it,” said Sergei Musiyenko.
In the run-up to the national referendum, the Institute of Sociology at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus jointly with the EcooM think tank conducted the public opinion poll “Belarus. A Vision of the Future”. The survey was carried out from 15 November to 4 December 2021 and polled 10,217 respondents, mainly economically active population. The sampling was multi-stage, stratified (by region and type of settlement), with quotas by sex and age. The study covered all regions of Belarus, Minsk, 52 districts (including 9 districts of the capital city), almost 350 organizations and enterprises in various sectors and of different forms of ownership.
Citizens welcomed the survey and the interest of sociologists in their position and assessments. People perceived the survey as an opportunity to convey their opinion about the current processes and the future of the country. Citizens spoke in favor of conducting more sociological research. During a lively discussion with the pollsters, respondents raised issues of water supply, construction of social and leisure infrastructure facilities, quality and accessibility of medical care, and other issues. All requests and complaints were documented and submitted to the local authorities.
