By KYIV. Oct 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Some 32% of Ukrainians surveyed in most cases use several sources of information about the same political event to compare different assessments, with social networks (61%) occupying the first place in the list of information channels, and television (54%) second.
This is evidenced by data from a survey conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from September 21 to September 27, 2023 as part of the USAID/ENGAGE activity, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Pact in Ukraine.
“Compared to 2019, the share of those who answer that in most cases they use several sources of information about the same political event to compare different assessments of this event has increased significantly (from 21% to 32%), the share of those who do it often increased from 16% to 23%, the share of those who do it rarely decreased from 31% to 27%, and the share of those who never or almost never do it decreased from 26% to 13%,” such data are provided in the release of the Razumkov Center for a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
“That is, we can talk about an increase in the desire to receive information from different sources, which, of course, helps increase the level of political competence,” the authors of the study believe.
At the same time, as noted, among those who in most cases use different sources of information about the same political event, 19% answer that it is difficult for them to determine their own position on political problems, while among those who never or almost never does not seek to receive information from different sources; there are significantly more of them – 39%.
If in 2019 the most popular source of information about politics was television, the services of which were used by 76% of respondents, then in 2023 the share of those who noted that they usually receive political information from this source decreased to 54%. “But social networks came in first place (61%), while in 2019 only 32% of respondents pointed to them as the predominant source of political information,” the press release states.
The share of Internet publications remained unchanged (36%), some 34% of respondents pointed to instant messengers as the main source of information, and 32% – stories from friends. The share of those who answered that they usually get information from expert blogs increased from 9% to 23%, from 14% to 18% – radio broadcasts, and from 6% to 13% – the web pages of think tanks and scientific institutions. The share of those who receive information from printed publications (newspapers, magazines) has not changed significantly (13.5% and 12%, respectively).
As noted, social networks are used more often by representatives of younger and middle age groups (from 70% to 76%), while, for example, among representatives of the oldest age group (60 years and older) – only 37%. “The older the respondents, the more often they use television (the share of these grows from 28% in the youngest age group to 77% in the oldest), radio (9% and 28.5, respectively), and print publications (6% and 17%, respectively),” the release emphasizes.
The survey was conducted from September 21 to September 27, 2023, as part of the ENGAGE program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Pact in Ukraine. The content of the survey is the sole responsibility of Pact and its partners and does not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or the U.S. Government.
The face-to-face survey was conducted in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy , Chernihiv, Chernivtsi regions and the city of Kyiv (in Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions – only in those territories controlled by the Ukrainian government and in which hostilities are not ongoing).
The survey was conducted using a stratified multi-stage sample using random sampling at the first stages and a quota method for selecting respondents at the final stage (when respondents were selected according to gender and age quotas). The structure of the sample population reproduces the demographic structure of the adult population of the territories where the survey was conducted as of the beginning of 2022 (by age, gender, and type of settlement).
Some 2,016 respondents aged 18 years and over were surveyed. The theoretical sampling error does not exceed 2.3.
