30.11.2011
Citizens' sense of curtailment of freedom of speech: dynamics
- According to a survey conducted by Rating Group in early November 2011, 45% of respondents felt that freedom of speech in Ukraine had been curtailed since the presidential election, while 32% said they did not perceive such restrictions and 22% were undecided. This was the worst indicator recorded over the previous two years: only about one third of Ukrainians did not sense a deterioration in freedom of speech, and just 9% of them were fully confident in that view. After a temporary improvement at the beginning of 2011, perceptions clearly worsened again toward the end of the year. For comparison, in April 2010 nearly two thirds of citizens did not feel any rollback of freedom of speech, meaning that within a year and a half this share had fallen by half.
- Negative trends were more often reported by middle-aged respondents and by those with relatively higher levels of education, and men were more sensitive to the issue than women. Over the preceding six months, the sharpest increase in concern about freedom of speech was recorded in the North of the country, particularly in Kyiv. In the North, West, Center, and South, the number of people who perceived restrictions on freedom of speech exceeded the number of those who did not, a pattern especially visible among supporters of Civic Position, Batkivshchyna, Svoboda, UDAR, and the Front for Change. By contrast, in the East and in Donbas, most respondents did not perceive a rollback of freedom of speech, a view that was particularly common among supporters of the Party of Regions and the Communist Party.
Methodology
- Survey population: population of Ukraine aged 18 and over
- Sample size: 2,000 respondents
- Method: face-to-face interviews
- Margin of error (95% confidence):
- near 50%: ≤ 2.2%
- near 30%: ≤ 2%
- near 10%: ≤ 1.3%
- near 5%: ≤ 1%
- Fieldwork period: October 25 – November 6, 2011
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