IRI poll: 83% of Georgians see Russia as top threat to country's economy
IRI survey in Georgia
The International Republican Institute – Georgia (IRI Georgia) has published the results of a new sociological survey, according to which the majority of the population cites unemployment and high prices as the most important problems that the country is currently facing. According to the same study, the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia II, enjoys the greatest confidence of the population. Also, 83% of the population consider Russia the main threat to the Georgian economy.
The survey was conducted from 4 to 24 March 2022. The sample included 1,486 respondents with the right to vote. The data were weighted by age, gender, region, and settlement size. The error margin of the survey is +/- 2.5% and the response rate is 64%.
Key takeaways from the IRI study:
The most important problems
According to the survey, the majority of the country’s population names unemployment (40%) and high prices (18%) as the most important problems.
War and poverty were named the most important problems by 8% of respondents each, others – by 9%.
Personal approval rating
The population of Georgia has the most favourable attitude towards the following politicians and public figures:
● Patriarch Ilia II – 91%
● Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze – 53%
●President Salome Zurabishvili – 52%
● Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili 47%
●Ombudsman Nino Lomjaria – 46%
●Anna Dolidze – For the people party – 44%
● Former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia – 40%
● Elene Khoshtaria – Droa party – 39%
● David Usupashvili – Lelo Party – 39%
●Georgian Dream chairman Irakli Kobakhidze – 39%
●United National Movement chairman Nika Melia – 37%
● Minister of Culture Teya Tsulukiani — 37%
● Third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili – 31%
● Georgian Dream party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili – 31%
●Chairman of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili – 27%
●Lelo party chairman Mamuka Khazaradze – 27%
If elections are held tomorrow, who would you vote for?
According to the poll, if elections were held next week, 31% of the population would vote for the Georgian Dream.
Others would vote as follows:
- United National Movement – 16%
- Giorgi Gakharia – For Georgia – 4%
- Droa – 2%
- Agmashenebeli Strategy – 2%
- Labor Party – 2%
- For the people – 2%
- Lelo – 2%
- Alliance of Patriots – 1%
- Conservative Movement – Alt-Info – 1%
- Girchi – more freedom – 1%
- Citizens – 1%
- Other parties – 2%
- I would not vote – 4%
- I would ruin the ballot – 11%
- I don’t know – 12%
- Refused to answer – 7%
Early elections
According to the poll, 30% of the population fully and 19% partially support the opposition’s demand for early parliamentary elections.
11% are partially against early elections, and 25% are completely against them.
EU, NATO and US
According to the IRI poll, 74% of the Georgian population fully and 14% partially support EU membership.
According to the same poll, 60% of the Georgian population fully and 15% partially support NATO membership. 4% partially and 6% are completely against the country’s entry into the alliance.
Also:
● 43% of the population consider the biggest benefit of joining the EU to be the strengthening of the economy;
● 31% of the population believe that the biggest benefit of joining NATO is security.
According to the poll, 28% of the population believe that political instability is the biggest obstacle to Georgia’s accession to the EU. In the case of NATO, 32% name Russia as the main obstacle.
Russia
90% of the population call Russia the country that carries the greatest political threat. 8% name Turkey, 5% – the USA, and 3% – Armenia.
The majority of the population considers the EU (54%), the USA (53%) and Ukraine (45%) as the most important political partners.
Answers to the question “Which country is the most important economic partner for Georgia” were distributed as follows:
● EU – 45%
● USA — 42%
●Turkey and Ukraine — 32-32%
●Azerbaijan – 24%
● China – 14%
● Russia — 11%
At the same time, 25% of the population say that they are categorically against deepening of the dialogue with Russia, and 11% are against it to one degree or another. 28% of the population to some extent support the deepening of the dialogue with Russia.
Another interesting finding: 47% of the population believes that the Georgian government is very good at building relations with Russia.
Also, 53% of respondents consider the government’s response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to be quite sufficient or mostly sufficient.
Social media
According to a public opinion poll, 97% of the population of Georgia most often uses Facebook.
Other popular social media platforms include:
●Instagram — 25%
●TikTok -13%
●Twitter – 3%
●Linkedin – 2%
●Telegram – <1%
●Do not use – 2%
● Refuse to answer – <1%
The survey also showed that 53% of the population use Facebook to get information about the current situation in the world.
Mass media
For 82% of respondents, Georgian TV channels are the main source of information.
● 8% receive information from Georgian news sites.
● 3% – from Georgian print media.
●3% – from Russian TV channels.
●3% – from Western news sites.
● 2% – from Western TV.
●4% – do not receive information about current events.
As for the Georgian channels, the first place is occupied by the pro-government television company Imedi, followed by the opposition Mtavari Arkhi, TV Pirveli and Rustavi-2.
Gender Issues
To the question – “If two candidates are running and they have the same qualifications, except that one is a man and the other is a woman, which candidate would you support more?” – 16% answered that they would support a man, 16% would support a female candidate.
66% of respondents say that the gender of a person does not matter when choosing a candidate.
