04.10.2010
Citizens' sense of curtailing freedom of speech
- Forty-one percent of citizens surveyed in September feel that freedom of speech in Ukraine has been curtailed since the presidential election. Compared to a similar survey conducted in April this year, this share has more than doubled, rising from 18% to 41%. Thirty-five percent of respondents do not feel any restriction of freedom of speech, which is almost half the April level of 66%, while the proportion of those who are undecided increased from 16% to 24%.
- The perception of a decline in freedom of speech has increased in all regions without exception. The sharpest growth was recorded in Central Ukraine, from 18% to 42%, in the North, from 23% to 55%, and in the West, from 38% to 59%, while the lowest levels remain in Donbas, from 6% to 15%, and in the South, from 10% to 29%. Donbas also saw the largest increase in the share of respondents who were unable to determine whether freedom of speech is being curtailed, rising from 19% to 37%.
- The greatest concern about restrictions on freedom of speech is observed among supporters of Svoboda, Batkivshchyna and Front for Change, while it is lowest among voters of the Communist Party and the Party of Regions. Supporters of Strong Ukraine are divided, with 45% saying they feel a curtailment of freedom of speech and 48% saying they do not.
- A positive balance of responses, where the share of “yes” answers exceeds that of “no,” is recorded across all demographic groups by age, education, type of settlement and gender. The strongest perception of a decline in freedom of speech is found among respondents aged 30–39 and among those with higher levels of education.
Methodology
- Survey organization: Rating Group.
- Survey population: adult population of Ukraine aged 18 and older.
- Sample size: 2,000 respondents.
- Method: face-to-face formalized interview using a structured questionnaire.
- Sampling error: no more than 3.0% for values close to 50%, no more than 2.6% for values close to 30%, and no more than 1.8% for values close to 10%.
- Fieldwork dates: 9–16 September 2010.
- West: Volyn, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi.
- Center: Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy.
- North: Kyiv city, Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv.
- South: Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sevastopol.
- East: Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv.
- Donbas: Donetsk, Luhansk.
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