KYIV. June 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko over the past two years in office has lost considerable support among the electorate. Every second Ukrainian assesses his performance in office negatively, first and foremost because of declining living standards.

These are the conclusions of the sociological research project, titled "Two years of Petro Poroshenko's presidency. What do Ukrainians think about the authorities and the situation in the country?" conducted by the Ukrainian Institute for the Future.

Presenting the results of the research on Friday at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency Hvylia Internet news portal editor Yuriy Romanenko said 80.6% of respondents noted the worsening economic situation in the country over the past two years, while only 4.3% of those polled cited positive changes.

"The poor economic situation correlates with appraisals of political processes. Some 68.8% of respondents said that the situation is changing for the worse, and only 10.1% of those who participated in the survey said there was any improvement," Romanenko said.

Some 41.8% of Ukrainians polled blamed the chief executive for deteriorating living standards, 16.8% cited unfulfilled election campaign promises, an increase in corruption – 9.2% and military setbacks – 8.9%.

Romanenko said "Poroshenko looked good, but only when he was compared to former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, Poroshenko … The president succeeded in transferring responsibility for the situation in Ukraine to the premier [until he was sacked]."

Berta Communications director Taras Berezovets noted that during the current crisis it does not make sense to expect politicians to maintain high popularity ratings.

"We see that hopes placed on new leaders, such as [Mikheil] Saakashvili and [Andriy] Sadovy have not been justified. Ukrainians expect their leaders to act responsibly, they blame current politicians for not doing what they promised to do," Berezovets said.