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Some 41% of Belarusians support Belarus’, Russia’s equal membership in Union State

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MINSK, 16 December (BelTA) – About 41% of the Belarusians support the equal membership of Belarus and Russia in the Union State of Belarus and Russia according to the large-scale sociological research “Belarus. A vision of the future”. Sergei Musiyenko, Director of the think tank EcooM, told reporters about results of the opinion poll.

Among other things Belarusians were asked what the Union State of Belarus and Russia should be like, BelTA has learned.

As many as 40.8% of those polled spoke in favor of Belarus and Russia being equal members of the Union State of Belarus and Russia. The opinion that merger is not necessary, that good multivector relations with other countries are necessary instead is shared by 24.2% of the respondents. The idea of single economic space without political unification is supported by 9.8% of those polled. The idea of merging the two countries into one looks favorable to 6.4%. As many as 4.8% would like the Union State to acquire supranational bodies.

A very small minority opted for none of the above – only 0.3%. “In essence, we’ve chosen the right questions. And the number of people, who declined to answer, is small, too – 0.6%,” Sergei Musiyenko said.

In a bid to provide sociological support for the upcoming referendum, the Sociology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in association with the EcooM think tank conducted the large-scale opinion poll “Belarus. A vision of the future” from 15 November through 4 December 2021. Researchers polled 10,217 respondents focusing on economically active population. The sampling was multi-stage, stratified by region and type of settlement, and included sex and age quotas. The study covered all the regions of Belarus, Minsk, 52 districts (including 9 districts of the capital city), almost 350 organizations and enterprises in various sectors and of different forms of ownership.

Citizens demonstrated a strong interest in the survey. Most of them welcomed the interest of sociologists in their views and assessments. The people perceived the survey as an opportunity to convey their opinion about the current processes and the future of the country. Citizens spoke in favor of more frequent sociological researches like that. During a lively discussion with pollsters the respondents mentioned problems relating to water supply, construction of social and leisure infrastructure facilities, quality and accessibility of medical care, and other issues. All requests and complaints were documented and submitted to the local authorities.

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