Half of Ukrainian citizens interviewed as part of a recent public opinion survey said their attitude to MP Nadiya Savchenko has not changed since she returned to Ukraine at the end of May 2016.
The survey results show that the attitude of 31% of respondents toward her grew worse, the attitude of 9% became better, and 10% of those polled were unable to answer the question.
The results of the poll, conducted by the Rating sociological group, were presented by the group’s head Oleksiy Antypovych during a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
Fifteen percent of respondents are well aware of Savchenko’s controversial political remarks, 50% have heard something about them, and 31% are not familiar with them. Among those who know about Savchenko’s statements, 36% fully support them or are more likely to support them, and 49% are unlikely to support them or do not support these remarks at all. In particular, Savchenko’s statements enjoy the strongest backing in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions. Among supporters of the Batkivshchyna party, 49% of respondents said they support or are more likely to support them, and 37% do not support them.
Forty-eight percent of those polled back Savchenko’s words that the West’s possible supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine could drive the planet to a Third World War, and 34% of respondents do not support them. Her words that Ukraine should start to hand over Russian prisoners in the first place in order to secure the return of Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia are opposed by 45% and are backed by 40% of respondents.
Savchenko’s opinion that “residents of Ukraine will have to apologize for the killed sons, husbands and parents in Donbas” (phrasing of the survey) is not supported by 53% and is supported by 33% of those polled. Her words that “the Maidan and the Antimaidan stood for the same values, they tried to unite us, and the only thing is that we were unable to reach mutual understanding” are not supported by 55% and are supported by 29% of those polled.
Savchenko’s proposal to “grant an amnesty to all participants in hostilities on the side of the ‘DPR’ and the ‘LPR’ [self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics], except for their leaders” is not supported by 55% and is supported by 28% of respondents.
Thirty-four percent of respondents also believe that Savchenko can make herself most useful to Ukraine if she returns to the army, another 17% see her as the head of the “international committee for the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and political prisoners,” the same number of respondents believe that she will be useful as an MP.
A mere 4% of those polled believe that Savchenko will do good for the country if she joins the race for the post of Ukrainian president, if she becomes the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (3%), and if she becomes the country’s defense minister (2%).
The survey was conducted from August 18 to August 23, 2016 and involved 2,000 respondents.
