September 2022

Taking Georgians’ pulse
Findings from August 2022 face to face survey

Carried out for NDI by CRRC Georgia
Research is funded by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irelandthrough the foreign, commonwealth and development office’s good governance fund.

www.ndi.org

SAMPLE

AUGUST POLL❖

Fieldwork dates: 14 July - 15 August2022❖

2,104 completed interviews (28%response rate)❖The average margin of error is +/- 2%❖

Note: the margin of error is differentfor every response❖

Shift from face-to-face to telephonemethod might affect a change on
historical slides.

❖ A nationally representative sample (excludingoccupied territories) including oversampled areas of
the Capital, large Urban, Small Urban, Rural andMinority Settlements;❖ Large Urban stratum consists of cities with apopulation 40K or more: Batumi, Zugdidi, Rustavi,Poti, Gori, and Kutaisi;❖ Small Urban stratum consists of the rest of thecities/dabas holding urban status;❖ Minority stratum consists of settlements, whereethnic minorities (mostly Armenians & Azerbaijani)compose at least 40% of the voters in given
settlement. Settlements within this stratum aredispersed throughout Kvemo Kartli, SamtskheJavakheti & Kakheti regions.
2

www.ndi.org

Methodology
We use random sampling at all stages. We use a complex survey design:❖Stratification – dividing population in relatively homogenous sub-groups; and❖

Clustering – randomly selecting small geographic areas for each sub-group (stratum).

❖Households are selected via random route sampling;❖Respondents are selected using a Kish table;❖Randomly selected households and individuals are not substituted;❖All interviews were conducted face-to-face with 18+ population, using tablets, inGeorgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani languages.

Quality control❖All interviewers receive special training;❖

CRRC central office coordinators conduct quality control interviews.
3General mood, state ofdemocracy4www.ndi.org

Plurality say
Georgia goingin the wrong
direction
Tbilisi residents andopposition supporters are
the most dissatisfied withthe country direction.
5

www.ndi.org

Majority ofTbilisi residents
not happy about
the country
direction

www.ndi.org

Georgians say
democracy is,
first of all,equality before
the law andfreedom ofspeech7www.ndi.org

Living in a
democratic
country isimportantfor majorityof Georgians

8www.ndi.org

Majority say
Georgia nota democracy
Citizens living in the ethnic
minority settlements andsupporters of GeorgianDream are more likely to
say that Georgia is ademocracy.

9

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Majority:
Georgia not agood example
for neighbors10www.ndi.org

Increase insupport forprotection of
LGBTQI+
rights11National and local issues

www.ndi.org

Jobs, rising
prices andpoverty remain
top nationalconcerns
Ethnic minorities are more likely
than others to name poverty; unlike
the rest of Georgian citizens, ethnic
minorities don’t name territorial
integrity among the most importantnational issues.
National priorities are similar acrosspartisan lines.
13

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Majority say
in the last 10years situation got
worse in regards
to territorial
integrity, poverty
and crime14

www.ndi.org

Compared to 2018,
now less people say
there is progress inregards to affordable
healthcare andfreedom of speech15www.ndi.org

Compared to 2018,
now less people say
there is progress inregards to affordable
healthcare andfreedom of speech16www.ndi.org

Low quality ofeducation andonline classes
named as top
challenges

17www.ndi.org

Tbilisi residents
are especiallyconcerned about
low quality ofeducation andpoor qualificationof teachers18

www.ndi.org

Cost ofmedicine has
become evenbigger concern
for citizens

19www.ndi.org

Water supply,roads, sewage,
and homelessanimals named
as the top local
concerns

www.ndi.org

Tbilisi is mostconcerned about
cleanness ofstreets, cost ofutilities, andhomeless animals

21

www.ndi.org

Roads, homelessanimals andwater supply
amongst theleading local
issuesEconomy

www.ndi.org

State ofeconomy
perceived
as bad24

www.ndi.org

Plurality say
they canafford lessthan fiveyears ago

25

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Every third
citizenstruggled tobuy food26

Institutions and leaders27

www.ndi.org

Performance ofthe government
remains same –half of thepopulation say
it’s doing a bad
job

28

www.ndi.org

Tbilisi and otherlarge cities aremost critical
towards thegovernment, so
are the younger
citizens29

www.ndi.org

President’s
negative job
assessment
has increased30

www.ndi.org

Majority remain
skeptical thatparliament is
responsive tocitizens’ needs31www.ndi.org

Majority sayneither the rulingparty, nor elected
opposition
parties act intheir interest
14 percent increase in people
who believe that elected
opposition parties do not act in
the best interest of theGeorgian people.

32

www.ndi.org

Ruling party has
the highest
confidence in theethnic minority
and rural
settlements
Elected opposition parties, too,have the highest confidence inminority settlements.
33

www.ndi.org

Majority ofopposition
supporters say
oppositionparties do not
act in their bestinterest34

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Plurality
remainpoliticallyundecided

Disclaimer: sample was split in two representative samples. Sample 1:
respondent was offered a show card with a long list of political parties;
response was marked by interviewer. Sample 2: respondent was handed
a tablet with a shorter list of political parties, and citizen would marktheir answer on their own.

Plurality do not know or do not say
which party is closest to them.
Declared support for individualparties is so low that they cannot
be taken as a guide to the outcomeof future elections.
35

www.ndi.org

Most citizens
remainpoliticallyundecided
Most citizens do not know or do not
say which party is closest to them.
Declared support for individual
parties is so low that they cannot
be taken as a guide to the outcomeof future elections.
36

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If elections
were held
tomorrow,
majority
would vote37

www.ndi.org

Undecided andethnic minority
settlements aremost likely toskip elections

38

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Majority saynone of theGeorgian parties
represent theirinterests39

www.ndi.org

65 percent ofyoung citizens
say no party
represents theirinterests
30 percent of Georgian Dreamsupporters and 37 percent of
opposition supporters say none of
the existing parties represent
their interests.
40

www.ndi.org

Absolute majority
say politiciansand Russia push
Georgians apart
Religion, educational
institutions, EU and NATO are
named as the biggest uniting
factors for the Georgiansociety.
41European and Euro-Atlantic
Integration

www.ndi.org

Dramatic shift
in favor of apro-westerncourseSupport for a pro-westernforeign policy is the highest
among young citizens andopposition supporters.
43www.ndi.org

Majority remain
confident that
Georgia will
benefit morefrom EU-NATO
integration thancloser ties withRussia
44www.ndi.org

EU membershipsupport drops
slightly, but
remains highSupport is the lowest among
ethnic minority groups.

45

www.ndi.org

Slight drop in
EU membershipsupport isevident acrossthe board46

www.ndi.org

Jobs andsecurity are
the mainmotivators
behind EU
support47

www.ndi.org

Georgians split
on how close isGeorgia gettingto EU48

www.ndi.orgCompared to 2019,
twice as many people
believe that thegovernment’s lack ofpolitical will is themain factor
preventing Georgia
from EU membership49

www.ndi.org

Support forNATO
membership
remains solid50www.ndi.org

Plurality say
Russia andoccupied regions
prevent Georgia
from NATOmembership51

EU candidacy status

www.ndi.org

Majority isaware about
the European
Council’sdecision
Majority of citizens in the ethnic
minority regions (72 percent) and40 percent of citizens in small cities
were not aware about this event.
53

www.ndi.org

Majority of those whowas aware about theEuropean Council’sdecision believe that theGeorgian government
didn’t do enough to get
EU candidacy status

Highest number of people
believing the government didn’t
do enough come from Tbilisi,
younger demographic andopposition supporters’ circle.
54

www.ndi.org

While meeting theEU candidacy
conditions isimportant for mostcitizens, they areskeptical thatgovernment will
fulfill them55

www.ndi.org

Wide publicconsensus on
importance ofopposition and
CSO inclusion, but
only a thirdbelieve thegovernment will
include them56

Russiawww.ndi.org

Majority say
Russia is athreat

Ethnic minority groups lesslikely to call Russia a threat.

58

www.ndi.org

Majority believe
Georgia should
cut economic
ties with Russia
or leave as it is
Support for deepening economic
relations with Russia is the highest
among male citizens, ethnic
minority settlements, andGeorgian Dream supporters.
59

Russian Invasion into Ukraine#SlavaUkrainiwww.ndi.org

Georgians are
confident that
war is Russia’s
fault

61

www.ndi.org

Majority believe
the government
and parliament
are doing enoughto support Ukraine
Younger citizens, Tbilisi residents
and opposition supporters are
more likely to say that Georgian
government and parliamentshould be doing more to support
Ukraine.
62

Futurewww.ndi.org

Citizens expecting
economic decline,
advancement of proRussian forces,
Russian military
aggression, andworsened
relationship with EU

64

Demographic

www.ndi.org

Dramatic
rise ofinternet

66

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Internet usage
remains lower
in rural andminority
settlements,and older
citizens67

www.ndi.org

Only 17 percentof Georgian
citizens attend
religious
services at least
once a week68

www.ndi.org

Majorityunderstands
Russian language.
Knowledge ofEnglish is limited.

69

www.ndi.org

Knowledge ofRussian ishighest in
Tbilisi and largecities, andamongst 55+citizens
70www.ndi.org

Knowledge ofEnglish is highest
in Tbilisi andlarge cities, aswell as amongst
younger citizens

71

Research is funded by the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland through the foreign, commonwealthand development office’s good governance fund.

NDI-CRRC POLLS AVAILABLE AT:➔ WWW.NDI.ORG/GEORGIA-POLLS➔ WW.CAUCASUSBAROMETER.ORG