Ukraine's dwindling optimism: A survey reveals growing pessimism
Social moods in the third year of the full-scale Russian invasion are shifting towards more pessimistic assessments of Ukraine's present and future, according to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
The results of a survey carried out by the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, in partnership with the Association of Political Psychologists of Ukraine, between 1 and 15 March indicate this.
More than half of the survey participants (56.1 percent) currently describe the socio-economic and political situation in Ukraine as bad or very bad, while only a quarter (24.6 percent) see it as quite good or good. However, as the researchers point out, this distribution of opinions does not significantly differ from a survey conducted on the eve of the full-scale invasion in 2022, where 52.2 percent of respondents viewed the country's condition as bad or very bad, and 31.8 percent regarded it as good or quite good.
The researchers have also noted that residents of southern Ukraine tend to perceive the situation as worse (62.1 percent) compared to other regions. Among President Volodymyr Zelensky's supporters, fewer (49 percent) view the situation negatively, compared to supporters of former Chief Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhny (59.1 percent), and former President Petro Poroshenko (64.3 percent).
Increasing number of pessimists
Only one in four respondents (25 percent) hopes for a change for the better in the country, while 42 percent believe that such improvements are unlikely or will not occur. A year ago, optimists outnumbered pessimists among those surveyed (35 percent against 30 percent). The highest proportion of participants expecting positive changes is in southern Ukraine (44.1 percent), the lowest is in the central region (18.4 percent).
One in three respondents (33.8 percent) believes the current events in Ukraine are heading in the right direction. This is a significant drop from last year (50.8 percent), but an improvement from 2022 (29.3 percent).
The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews, with a total of 2,000 respondents aged 18 and over participating, all residing in areas under government control in Kyiv.
