According to the all-Ukrainian national representative survey conducted by Info Sapiens on March 25-29, 49% of Ukrainians are completely or rather confident in the President's actions in the fight against the coronavirus, and 45% are not confident at all or rather not confident.
At the same time, negative assessments prevail regarding the actions of other institutions: 67% consider the actions of the Cabinet of Ministers incorrect, 66% - the Ministry of Health (the survey was conducted before the appointment of a new minister), 62% - medical institutions in the settlement or rayon, 57% - local authorities (it has the highest level of confidence among the listed institutions in the context of the fight against the epidemic - 35%).
According to Omnibus Info Sapiens, in February, 33% of Ukrainians saved on food and/or clothes, while this figure is 65% of such people in March. It can be explained not only by an actual decline in income, but also by panic, and such attitudes are likely to affect the consumer behavior.
However, despite the sharp impoverishment, most Ukrainians support quarantine measures. 80% support the prohibition to leave home without sufficient reasons, 77% support the extension of quarantine until April 24, 63% support the introduction of an emergency situation regime. Ukrainians support the termination of transport links within the settlements the least (55% vs. 42%) and the return of Ukrainians left stranded abroad (52% vs. 42%).
When considering the implementation of quarantine measures, then prior to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on the new quarantine rules, 49% of Ukrainians did not leave the house or did it rarely, only in case of emergency. 32% tried to leave the house less often, 19% lived the same way as in the past. In particular, 82% of Ukrainians went shopping, 28% visited other people, 9% used public transport, 5% went to religious organizations. Reviewing the risk group separately, 65% of people over 60 went shopping, 9% each visited other people and used public transport, 3% went to religious organizations.
There is a problem with the lack of tests: members of 4% of households tried to get tested for coronavirus but were not able to. In general, 52% of Ukrainians would like to get tested for coronavirus.
It is also interesting to compare the assessment of the clarity and univocity of the information about coronavirus in Ukraine and the US. In Ukraine, 55% indicated that they saw about the same information about coronavirus everywhere (according to Pew Research data, 62% in the US as of mid-March), 26% saw contradictory facts in different sources (there was the same number in the US), and 13% did not follow this information (11% in the US). Therefore, communication about coronavirus is clearer and more unequivocal in the United States than in Ukraine.
Regarding the use of different sources of information, then receiving the news from television has even slightly decreased compared to the same period in 2019 according to the Info Sapiens survey for Corestone Group: 74% indicated this source of information versus 78% in March 2019. Instead, receiving the news from online sources has gone up: 47% get the news from specialized news sites (versus 36% in March 2019), and 42% - from social networking sites (versus 20% in 2019). The frequency of receiving the news from the radio has also increased (20% vs. 13% in 2019), Russian television (12% vs. 7%) and Russian websites (6% vs. 9%). According to Info Sapiens researchers, the increase in consumption of Russian television is driven by the coding of Ukrainian satellite TV channels, while the Russian ones remain free. Regarding the Russian websites, the increase in their use could happen due to quarantine: Ukrainians spend more time on the Internet, they "google" more, as Google often finds information on Russian sites when searching in Russian language. This hypothesis is also supported by an increase in the use of English-speaking sites 4% in 2019 to 9%.
Regarding the most trusted source of information, Ukrainian television was less often mentioned in 2020 (42% vs. 46% in 2019), as well as Ukrainian websites except for social networking sites (13% vs. 19%), but social networking sites were mentioned more often (12% vs. 7 %). As for TV channels, both in 2019 and 2020, 1+1 has been the most trusted one (22%).
«The President has high credit of trust with low level of confidence in the government and medical institutions, - Inna Volosevych, Deputy Director of Info Sapiens comments. - Therefore, we would recommend the President and his Office to pay as much attention as possible to communication with the population and to explanation of the advisability of quarantine measures. Every fourth Ukrainian indicated that he/she saw contradictory information about coronavirus, so, for example, it is advisable to debunk common myths. In my opinion, communication and public support measures (for example, organizing the delivery of products to people over 60 in the absence of younger members of the household) will be much more effective than fines of UAH 17,000, which seem outrageous at an average pension of UAH 3,000, and in the situations when some people have to break the regime, for example, in the absence of pharmacies and grocery stores within 2 kilometers»