Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 5 May.’14
A public opinion survey, which was commissioned by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and fielded between March 26 and April 18, released on May 5, was fielded by the Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC) and was funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The survey was conducted through nationwide face-to-face interview with 3,942 respondents and has a margin of error plus, minus 2.1%.
The survey, which shows respondents’ attitudes towards broad range of policy and current issues, also includes ratings of political parties; this latter part of the survey will be released on May 8.
Compared to a previous similar survey, fielded in the second half of November 2013, number of those who think that Georgia is moving in the right direction has declined by seventeen percentage points to 36% in April; 38% of respondents think Georgia is “not changing at all”, up from 28% in November, 2013.
Number of those who say Georgia “is a democracy now” has also declined – from 54% in November to 46% in April, which is statistically the same level recorded in the September, 2013 survey, but higher than it was in June, 2013 (38%).
Minority Rights
62% of respondents said that protection of minority rights is important to Georgia’s democratic development, down by eight percentage points since November, 2013.
Majority (73%) of those 26% of respondents who say that religious minorities come first to mind when thinking about minority groups, believe that protection of religious minorities’ rights is important. 79% say the same in respect of ethnic minorities.
But figures are different when it comes to sexual minorities. 48% of those 22% of respondents, who say that sexual minorities come first to mind when thinking about minority groups, say that protection of rights of sexual minorities is not important; only 24% think it is important and 25% are “neutral”.
(excerpts)