Ukrainian citizen views on the war in their country

Jul 11, 2022
Styled image:Ukraine flag with a globe showing Europe
Image: Pixabay

A recent survey of Ukrainians, supervised by a leading US institution, has confirmed very strong public support for President Zelensky and the Ukrainian military combined with strong hopes of victory in the current deadly struggle. But the survey also indicates that, although Ukrainians hold Russia fundamentally answerable for the ongoing war, they also attribute significant responsibility to the Ukrainian government (and also to the US and NATO) for the continuing conflict.

The National Opinion Research Centre (NORC) in the US was first established in 1941. In 1947, it moved to its current location, at the University of Chicago, from the University of Denver. It is widely respected as one of the largest, independent social research organizations in the US. As the war in Ukraine began, NORC helpfully began organizing opinion polls in the US and also in Ukraine (related to that war) partnering with media outlets including Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ)

A recent NORC poll randomly surveyed over 1,000 Ukrainians, with the WSJ, from June 9 – 13, 2022 using mobile-phone contacts. This poll confirmed that the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky continues to enjoy very strong support (doing somewhat or very well) as a war-time leader (78%) and in his dealings with Western countries (80%). His ratings for economic management (58%) and negotiations with Russia to end the fighting (40%) were lower.

Both the Ukrainian military (97%) and the President (84%) continue to enjoy robust levels of trust. And Ukrainians are adamant (89%) that achieving peace by granting Russia control over some parts of Ukrainian territory occupied since February 24, 2022 is unacceptable.

Given the awful Ukrainian experience to date, and the valiant resistance to the invasion, these findings are not surprising. Still, the survey interestingly also confirms that many Ukrainians have retained an open-minded understanding of what appear to be the primary sources of the conflict. In response to a question about how much responsibility for the ongoing conflict is borne by certain parties, primary responsibility (85%) is, unmistakably, attributed to Russia. However, a great deal or some responsibility (70%) is attributed to the Ukrainian government itself for the continuing combat while the US (58%) and NATO (55%) are also seen as significantly responsible for the enduring conflict.

Moreover, when asked what most threatens Ukraine’s security, 97% understandably identified the Russian invasion as the paramount menace, but not far behind was corruption amongst Ukraine’s high officials and the wealthy (85%).

To retain this degree of clear-eyed thinking on broader issues, in the midst of this extended, deadly confrontation is impressive. Curiously, this important survey does not appear to have been widely reported or discussed in the Western media in the way one might expect.

Meanwhile, Russia Today (RT) has reported on the survey. The RT report does not headline President Zelensky’s popularity. But it does otherwise provide an overview of the survey by drawing on the published results, see “Ukrainians blame own government alongside Russia for conflict -poll

Public access to the full NORC survey is available here .

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