Ukrainians most of all rely on AFU, president, volunteers, trust in fellow citizens, media growing, still skeptical about judges, prosecutors – poll

KYIV. Jan 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) continue to be trusted by Ukrainians most of all, and over the past year (between December 2021 and December 2022), the level of trust has increased from 72% to 96%, according to a survey of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), conducted on December 4 through 27, 2022 by random sampling of mobile phones (995 respondents).

According to sociologists, the trust-distrust balance of the AFU (that is, the difference between the share of those who trust and the share of those who do not trust) is +96% (in December 2021 it was +60%).

The level of trust in the AFU is followed by the president of Ukraine and volunteers. In December 2021, some 27% respondents trusted the president (and the balance was negative -23%, that is, there were more of those who did not trust than trusted), but over the year the figure rose to 84%, and the balance is +80%. In the case of volunteers, trust increased from 68% to 84%, and the balance improved from +57% to +81%.

The trust in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) increased from 29% to 63% (balance increased from -7% to +54%) and the National Police from 30% to 58% (balance increased from -14% to +45%).

The perception of the government and the Verkhovna Rada has also improved significantly. Trust in the government increased from 14% to 52% (balance increased from -46% to +33%). In the case of the parliament, although overall confidence indicators are not high, there is also a significant increase in confidence – from 11% to 35%, and the balance increased from -56% to +2%.

This year, sociologists have added two institutions to the list of agencies that are more associated with ensuring the rule of law – these are prosecutors and courts. As it turned out, these are the only Ukrainian institutions that have a negative balance of trust and distrust and to which Ukrainians are most critical. Thus, 25% trust the courts, 34% do not, while the rest have no definite attitude (the balance is -9%). Prosecutors are trusted by 21%, not trusted by 32% (the balance is -11%).

Trust in the Ukrainian media over the past year has grown from 32% to 57% (the balance increased from -7% to +43%). There is still no trust in the Russian media, and now this lack has become even more pronounced – from 3% to 1%, there are even fewer trusting people.

There is some deterioration in attitudes towards the church – the share of those who trust the church has decreased from 51% to 44%, and the balance has decreased from +27% to +22%.

Also, according to the results of the survey, Ukrainians began to trust ordinary people in their village more – the trust indicator increased from 63 to 71%, and the balance improved from 52 to 62%. This year we also asked about attitudes towards internally displaced persons (IDPs) – 52% of respondents trust them and only 10% do not trust them (the rest have an uncertain/indifferent attitude), and the balance is +41%.