Economics, elections and improvements
National Democratic Institute releases its recent public opinion poll
Author: Story by Nana Sajaia
This week, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) released its survey carried out in partnership with Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC). The poll was conducted from June 24 through July 5 and included 2053 interviews nation-wide and 900 in Tbilisi to ensure a representative sample.
The NDI Senior representative in Georgia, Luis Navarro listed three major findings of the survey to Georgia Today:
“First, polls showed that post-election, the issues Georgians care most are economic, jobs, poverty and affordable healthcare. Second, Georgians positively assess the election results, especially when compared to the conduct of elections in 2008. And third, there are still areas in which Georgian citizens would like to see government improve.”
Speaking about the conduct of elections in 2010, Navarro said that the majority of Georgians assess the conduct of the elections positively: “We hope this is a reflection of the improvement that will continue with each election going forward in Georgia.”
When asked about the biggest surprise in the poll’s results, Navarro pointed the complexity of the attitudes towards the country’s relationship with Russia:
“Nothing in our polling has suggested that Georgian citizens are any less antagonistic in their sentiments towards Russia. Nothing suggests that Georgian citizens are supporting the individual initiatives of opposition leaders to negotiate with Russia, and in fact the majority of Georgians positively assess specific engagements that the Georgian government has had with Russia. And yet, a majority of them are not happy with the current policy,” he said, adding he cannot comment on the reasons behind the results.
“We do not know the reason for this, but perhaps, this may be a very personal assessment on issues such as trade and travel, in which people are thinking personal facts are the nature of the relationship between Russia and Georgia, and they would like to see a change. That is not in itself a critique of the government, it is simply an aspiration for a better state of affairs.”
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