28.12.2009
The attitude of citizens to the New Year's addresses of presidents
- Ukrainians are evidently not ready to abandon the tradition of the annual New Year’s address by the President of Ukraine. 73% of Ukrainians have a positive (or rather positive) attitude toward this tradition, and only 14% have a negative or rather negative one.
- Unlike residents of the West, Center, and North, residents of the East, South, and especially Donbas perceive the New Year’s address of the country’s leader less positively. It is likely that respondents’ answers were influenced by their negative attitude toward the incumbent head of state.
- Older people view this tradition more positively than younger people. At the same time, positive attitudes significantly outweigh negative ones in all age groups.
- Women also view the tradition more positively than men. No significant differences were observed in respondents’ answers depending on their level of education.
- 38% of respondents say that they liked the New Year’s addresses of all three Presidents of Ukraine equally. At the same time, 13% liked Leonid Kuchma’s addresses the most, and 8% each preferred Viktor Yushchenko’s and Leonid Kravchuk’s.
- Respondents who have a positive attitude toward the tradition of New Year’s greetings from the head of state rated the addresses of each of the three Presidents more positively.
- It is interesting that Kuchma’s addresses are liked more by supporters of Viktor Yanukovych and Serhiy Tihipko, Kravchuk’s by supporters of Volodymyr Lytvyn and Yulia Tymoshenko, and the incumbent President’s addresses by his own supporters.
- Geographically, the pattern is as follows: Yushchenko’s New Year’s greetings are liked (or were liked) the most in the West, Kravchuk’s in the Center, and Kuchma’s in the South.
- For residents of the East and North, the electoral factor apparently plays the smallest role: they like the New Year’s addresses of all three Presidents of Ukraine. Donbas, as already noted, is simply the most negative toward this tradition and toward all presidents whose last name is not “Yanukovych.”
- In rural areas, Yushchenko’s greetings are perceived best; in cities, Kuchma’s.
Methodology
- Study audience: population of Ukraine aged 18 and older.
- Sample size: 2000 respondents.
- Method: face-to-face formalized interview.
- Sampling error: for values close to 50% — no more than 3%; close to 30% — no more than 2.6%; close to 10% — no more than 1.8%.
- Fieldwork dates: November 28 – December 7, 2009.
- Regional breakdown:
- West: Volyn, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi
- Center: Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy
- North: Kyiv city, Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv
- South: AR Crimea, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sevastopol
- East: Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv
- Donbas: Donetsk, Luhansk
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