IISEPS — Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Politycal Studies

RESULTS OF THE NATION OPINION POLL conducted on March 2-12, 2012
(1.509 persons interviewed, margin of error does not exceed 0.03)

1. If, in your opinion, the state of things in our country is developing in general in the wrong direction, who should return the country to the right course?

Variant of answer	%
Progressively thinking representatives of the society, connected neither with the government authorities, nor with the opposition	26.1
President A. Lukashenko himself has to change his policy	11.8
Progressively thinking representatives of the present leadership (working in the bodies of state administration)	8.2
Representatives of the Belarusian opposition	4.2
DA/NA	49.7

2. President Alexander Lukashenko announced in February that the pay level of working people that had existed before the crisis would be restored within a year or a year and a half. Do you believe it will happen?

Variant of answer	%
Yes, I do	34.7
No, I do not	57.2
DA	8.1

3. To what extent, in your opinion, do citizens of Belarus fulfill their obligations owed to the state (observe the laws, pay taxes and so on) and to what extent, in your opinion, does the state fulfill its obligations owed to the citizens of Belarus?

Variant of answer	%
It fulfills them in full	19.0
It mostly fulfills them	49.1
Equally – it fulfills as much as it does not	23.1
It mostly does not fulfill them	6.3
It does not fulfill them at all	1.3
DA/NA	1.2

4. To what extent, in your opinion, does the state fulfill its obligations owed to the citizens of Belarus?

Variant of answer	%
It fulfills them in full	6.0
It mostly fulfills them	26.5
Equally – it fulfills as much as it does not	31.0
It mostly does not fulfill them	26.4
It does not fulfill them at all	8.8
DA/NA	1.3

5. In January and February employees of some Belarusian enterprises withdrew from the official Trade Unions Federation and joined independent trade unions. What do you think about it?

Variant of answer	%
It accomplishes nothing; independent trade unions cannot protect the rights of the working people	35.7
It is a right decision; only independent trade unions can protect the rights of the working people	27.6
It is a wrong decision; independent trade unions are a “fifth column”, hostile agents of the foreign states	17.0
DA/NA	19.7

6. Which ways do you consider most effective for expressing your opinion and influencing the authorities, and what political actions did you participate in? (more than one answer is possible)

Variant of answer	%
Talking on the radio, writing for the press, and appearing on television	32.4
Meetings, demonstrations	25.6
Strikes	18.9
Pickets	6.4
Hunger strikes	4.2
Other ways	35.6
DA	12.0

7. Do you consider yourself to be in opposition to the present authorities?

Variant of answer	%
Yes	23.4
No	66.0
DA/NA	10.6

8. What is your attitude to the boycott of the forthcoming parliamentary election which a part of opposition urges to?

Variant of answer	%
I have not heard anything about it	41.6
It is positive	10.6
It makes no difference to me	26.5
It is negative	20.2
NA	1.0

9. What events of the XX century can Belarusians be proud of to the greatest extent, in your opinion? (more than one answer is possible)

Variant of answer	%
Victory in the Great Patriotic war	79.8
Acquisition of state independence in 1991	35.9
Postwar reconstruction and subsequent industrialization	35.8
Formation of the Belarusian People’s Republic	11.7
Electing A. Lukashenko president of Belarus in 1994	11.5
Formation of Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic	9.0
October revolution of 1917	7.2

10. Do you feel protected from the possible arbitrary rule on the part of the authorities, militia, the State Traffic Patrol Department (STPD), the internal revenue service, law courts and other government institutions?

Variant of answer	%
Definitely, yes	12.7
More likely, yes	32.8
More likely, no	32.6
Definitely, no	18.5
DA/NA	3.4