Poll: Most Ukrainians believe president bears responsibility for corruption in government

According to a recent poll published by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, 78% of surveyed Ukrainians believe that the president bears direct responsibility for corruption in the government and regional administrations. Only 18% of respondents disagreed with this statement.

Older Ukrainians seem more demanding of the head of state than the young people, reads the report. The share of respondents who think the president is responsible for corruption ranges from 70% to 81% among people aged 18-29 and those over 60, respectively.

There are no other significant differences in answers depending on the participants’ financial situation or region of residence, the Foundation wrote.

Sociologists also asked the respondents about current challenges for Ukrainian entrepreneurship. Corruption was named the most significant obstacle to development, followed by the destruction caused by Russia’s war, inadequate tax administration and control system, and weak support from the state.

The Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation conducted the survey with the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on July 3-17. They polled 2011 respondents from all Ukrainian regions except for Russian-occupied Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson oblasts, as well as frontline areas.

Another survey carried out by the Foundation and the Razumkov Center in August showed that 55% of Ukrainians believed that Kyiv’s allies should provide the country with military aid only under the condition of an effective fight against corruption.

This statement was the least popular with financially secure respondents, while citizens with low income expressed higher support, the researchers added.

More than half of surveyed Ukrainians also disagreed with the idea that people should refrain from criticizing the government for corruption, as such criticism allegedly destabilizes the country and reduces the trust of foreign partners.