Ukrainians trust the army, the Church and volunteers, while their trust in the government is plummeting: opinion poll

Most often, Ukrainian citizens express trust in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (65% of respondents trust them), the Church (63%), volunteer organizations (63%), the State Emergency Service (53%), volunteer battalions (53%), the State Border Guard Service (52%), the media of Ukraine (50%), the National Guard of Ukraine (49%), public organizations (47%).

The President of Ukraine is not trusted by 49% of citizens, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine - by 75%, the Government of Ukraine - by 72%, the state administration (officials) - by 78%.

There is a high level of distrust of the judicial system as a whole (77.5%), the Supreme Court (69%), and local courts (67.5%). Prosecutors are not trusted by 73% of respondents, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) – by 71%, Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office – by 70,5%, the Anti-Corruption Court – by 70%, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) by 70%.

As for the law enforcement agencies, distrust of the police and the Security Service of Ukraine is somewhat less often expressed (although mistrust also prevails over trust). Thus, 58% of respondents do not trust the National Police (trusted by 33%), the Patrol Police (by 54% and 35%, respectively), and the SBU (56% and 31%, respectively).

71% of respondents do not trust political parties, and about 50% do not trust trade unions.

The fact that the leader of distrust is the state administration as such (78% of respondents do not trust it and the officials) indicates a high level of the estrangement between state power entities and society, which leads to a negative assessment by citizens of the activities of the government, except for those structures that ensure the defense of the state and the security of citizens.

There is a tendency that the level of trust in the authorities is decreasing. Thus, while in December 2019 51.5% of respondents expressed distrust of the Cabinet of Ministers, in July 2020 this figure was 72%, distrusting the Verkhovna Rada was 54% and 75%, respectively, and distrusting, the President was 31% and 49%, respectively.

The study was conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center together with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic initiatives Fund from July 3 to 9, 2020 using the method of face-to-face interviews at the respondents' places of residence.

Two thousand twenty-two respondents aged 18 and over were surveyed in all regions of Ukraine, with the exclusion of Crimea and the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, using a sample that represents the adult population by main socio-demographic indicators. The theoretical sampling error (net of the design effect) does not exceed 2.3% with a probability of 0.95.