According to a poll conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI), citizens are worried about economic problems, political polarisation and, at the same time, increased threats from Russia.
The survey was conducted on behalf of the Research Center of the International Republican Institute from March 4-24, 2022. The data are collected by face-to-face interview method and 1486 respondents with voting rights and age across Georgia took part in it.
Stephen Knicks, Director of the Eurasian Representation at the International Republican Institute, said:
“For the citizens of Georgia, the economic situation remains the main challenge. Research shows that more effective steps are needed to address the problems caused by unemployment and expensive living.”
According to a new survey, the majority of the population thinks that the economic situation in Georgia has deteriorated sharply or partially over the past year. Only 1% of respondents say the situation has improved dramatically, 5% believe the situation has partially improved, 18% do not notice the change and say it has remained the same, for 31% the situation has partially deteriorated, and for 45% it has deteriorated sharply.
Unemployment and high prices are considered by most of the population as the most important problem. Unemployment was named as the most important problem by 40%, high prices by 18%. In the second place these problems were chosen by 59% (unemployment) and 45% (high prices).
War and poverty were indicated by 8-8% of the respondents as the first choice, 9% chose the other, while in the case of the second choice, 16%, 20% and 18% were observed.
As for the country’s most important political partners, in this case, the citizens had the opportunity to give several answers and the percentage was distributed as follows: EU – 54%, USA – 53% and Ukraine – 45%.
In case of the most important economic partners for Georgia: EU – 45%, USA – 42%, Turkey and Ukraine – 32-32%.
The population names Russia as the country with the greatest political (90%) and economic (83%) threat. It is noteworthy that the number of opponents of deepening dialogue with Russia has fallen sharply in recent years and this year saw the lowest rate of support for dialogue (34%). According to the data of 2022, 25% of the population strongly opposes the deepening of the dialogue with Russia, 28% support it and 11% oppose it.
88% of the population supports EU membership, while 74% support NATO membership. 43% of the public believe that joining the EU will strengthen the economy, while 28% think that joining it will lead to political instability. As for NATO, 31% think that joining the alliance will increase security in the country, while 32% think that the biggest obstacle to joining NATO is Russia.
If the elections were held on Sunday, the results of this question would be distributed according to the parties as follows: Georgian Dream – 31%, UNM – 16%, For Georgia – 4%, Droa – 2%.
30% of the population fully and partially support the demand for early parliamentary elections of the opposition – 19%. Partially against 11%, while 25% are completely against. 60% of respondents want to see new political parties in the upcoming elections.
According to a survey by the International Republican Institute (IRI), Ilia II (92%), Kakha Kaladze (53%) and Salome Zurabishvili (52%) have the highest approval rating of the Georgian population. Irakli Gharibashvili (47%) and Public Defender Nino Lomjaria (44%) are in the fourth and fifth places.
Survey data were weighted by age, sex, region, and settlement size. The margin of error is +/- 2.5%, the response rate is 64%. The study was supported by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development.
