What Bugs Us

According to a new study, most Poles want their government to give them jobs, free health care, and access to preschool. Only one-third believe that a free-market economy is better than a socialist planned economy.

But they don’t want to return to communism. That’s according to a poll conducted by the CBOS agency for the Leon Kozminski Academy, a private university in Warsaw.

Krzysztof Zagorski, a sociologist at Kozminski who commissioned the study, said Poles want the state to provide some security but have little nostalgia for communism. “We do not want empty shelves, the economy of permanent shortages, humiliation when applying for a passport, arrests for publicly expressing [our] views, …”

A shopkeeper in Ekaterinburg yells at a boy who had just kicked a ball into her kiosk. Photo by Peretz Partensky/flickr.

Commenting in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper, Mark Dietl, an economist with the Sobieski Institute think tank, said the results are more about Poles’ frustration with government inefficiency and neglect. Poles rate the quality of public services quite low, and, therefore, demand that many should be free. “Very often we feel that we simply overpay,” he told the newspaper.

Others analysts cited Polish workers’ unrealistic attitudes about job security and the inordinate effect of political decisions on the country’s job market, since many major industries remain in the hands of the state.

Some results, as reported by Rzeczpospolita:

• 85 percent of respondents believe the government should provide jobs for people

• 85 percent expect the government to provide free health care

• More than 61 percent would prefer to work for the government over the private sector

• 82 percent believe the government should own power companies

• 73 percent believe the government should own the country’s railways

• 77 percent believe the government should own the country’s mines

• 61 percent believe the government should own most banks

In Ukraine, home of perhaps the world’s most pugilistic parliament, opinions of the country’s politicians are steadily souring. According to a poll released 18 March by the Razumkov Center think tank, the level of support for parliament – defined as full support or support “for certain actions” – is around 39 percent, down a few points from October to December 2012. Its disapproval ratings rose from 47 percent to 55 percent – and that’s before the most recent fisticuffs.

Meanwhile, President Viktor Yanukovych’s disapproval rating inched from about 52 percent to 56 percent, while his approval rating hovers around 40 percent.

The most popular politician is Vitaly Klitschko, the leader of the Ukrainian Democratic Union for Reform party who, unlike his colleagues in parliament, actually boxes for a living. He enjoys the full or qualified support of about 57 percent of those polled and 38 percent disapproval.

As for imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, her negatives are high – 58 percent, compared with 33 percent support.

Finally, in the “I don’t care if he’s dead, I still want to impeach Nixon” category, former President Viktor Yuschchenko’s disapproval rating sits at a lofty 82 percent. But 10 percent of his countrymen still approve of him.

In Russia, a poll conducted in mid-February by the independent Levada Center asked people what they worried about. Over the years, inflation has owned the top spot, followed by poverty. Other trends are less obvious but are there nonetheless. Although most of the categories see some ups and downs – concerns about unemployment, for instance, spiked during the economic crisis – a couple of categories have rather steadily inched upward in Russians’ consciousness: corruption and immigration. Note that concerns about restrictions on civil liberties consistently scrape the bottom, ahead of only “other” and “difficult to answer.”

Which of the following problems of our society worry you the most, and [which do] you consider the most acute?

Prepared by Oleg Savelyev, the Levada Center