Ukrainians blame Yuschenko and Tymoshenko for creating economic mess

Kyiv, October 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The population of Ukraine blame the President of Ukraine Viktor Yuschenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for the present difficult socioeconomic situation in Ukraine.

This is according to the results of a sociological poll conducted by the Oleksandr Yaremenko Institute of Social Studies and the Social Monitoring Center presented by Olha Balakiriova, the chairman of the Oleksandr Yaremenko Institute for Social Studies, at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

Asked, "Who bears the most responsibility for the difficult socioeconomic situation in Ukraine?" about a half of all the respondents (47%) answered Yuschenko, and 22% blamed Tymoshenko. Moreover, 17% of the respondents think that the Verkhovna Rada is also responsible for the lack of progress in solving economic problems.

Concerning the influence of the financial crisis, 95% of the population of Ukraine said they felt its influence. Some 17% of the respondents as of August 2009 said that the crisis had a catastrophic impact on them and their families (in July 2009 the figure was 21%), and about a half (49%) said that the crisis was rather noticeable.

The poll was conducted on August 15-25 and October 2-12, 2009. A total of 10,400 respondents from 18 years old from all Ukrainian regions and Crimea were interviewed. A total of 509 residential areas were surveyed (186 towns and 323 villages). The poll's margin of error is 0.59-0.98%.