Attitude toward certain historical figures and de-communization process in Ukraine

According to the results of the research conducted by the Sociological group "Rating" in November 2016, almost half of the respondents (48%) support the idea of communist ideology ban in Ukraine, against – 36%, not determined – 16%. For the two last years, the number of ban supporters has not changed.

Most (78%) of the West citizens, half of the Center, one-third of the South stand for the communist ideology ban while on the East the number of such - 18%.

The younger the respondents and the higher level of their education, the more they support the idea of communist ideology ban. Men are more likely to support communist ideology ban as compared to women. Among rural citizens the idea is more supported as compared to urban.

The communist ideology ban is the most supported by the electorate of nationalist orientation parties such as Svoboda and National Movement of D.Yarosh (over 80%). On the contrary, the greatest number of the idea’s opponents is recorded among the electorate of the party «For life» and Opposition block (70% each).

One-third of the respondents support nationalist ideology ban in Ukraine (40% - against and one-fourth – not determined on this subject). For the two last years, the number of the nationalist ideology ban supporters has declined from 40 to 35%.

Almost half of the South citizens, 40% of the East, one-third of the Center support nationalist ideology ban, in the West the number of such is only 20%.

The older the respondents and the lower level of their profits, the more they support the idea of nationalist ideology ban. Women are more likely to support the ban as compared to men. Among rural citizens the idea is more supported as compared to urban (38% and 28% accordingly).

Considering the cut of parties’ preferences the situation on the nationalist ideology ban is totally opposite to the situation on the communist ideology. The greatest number of the nationalism idea ban supporters is recorded among the electorate of the party «For Life» and Opposition block t (over 55%), the least number – among the electorate of Svoboda and National Movement of D.Yarosh.

41% of the respondents support the initiative of all Lenin monuments dismantling in Ukraine; at the same time, almost half of respondents (48%) argue against this initiative, 11% - not determined. In the West the idea is supported the most (72%), in the Center the index of support is almost two times less – 41%, in the South – almost three times less (26%), and in the East – four times less (18%).

The younger the respondents and the higher level of their education, the more they support the initiative of Lenin monuments dismantling. Rural citizens are more likely to support the idea of monuments dismantling as compared to urban. Men support the initiative relatively more as compared to women.

Among the parties’ supporters, the monuments dismantling idea is the most defended by the electorate of Svoboda and National Movement of D.Yarosh (over 75%). Within the environment of BPP, Samopomich, and Civil position electorate the number of idea’s supporters is twice as much as compared to the opponents' number (approximately 60% against 30%). But among the supporters of Radical party and Batkivshchyna, the number of opponents and supporters of dismantling is almost equal. The absolute majority of «For life» and Opposition block electorate stands against this initiative.

Attitude toward the initiative of changing soviet names of the cities and streets in Ukraine is ambiguous. On the whole, the initiative is more likely to be not supported (57%) than supported (35%). At the same time, if to assume that changing names can take place optionally, attitude toward initiative becomes considerably softer and the supporters’ number exceeds the opponents’ number in this case (49% against 44%). Thus, 34% consider that renaming is needed only when it comes to the names in honor of soviet political figures who committed crimes against Ukrainian people which can be proved documentary; 15% - all the names in honor of soviet political figures. At the same time, however, 44% still do not support the idea of streets renaming at all, and 7% - not determined.

Renaming is the most positively perceived in the West, while in the East and South - mainly negatively. Along with that, the higher level of respondents’ education, the higher their support of the idea of changing cities and streets soviet names. Men support initiative relatively more as compared to women. The worst support of the renaming idea is recorded within the oldest respondents’ group (60+ years). Rural citizens are more likely to support the idea of renaming as compared to urban.

Considering the cut of parties’ preferences the situation is similar to the perception of Lenin monuments dismantling idea. The unique substantial difference is that supporters and opponents correlation differs and shows the increase of the latter.

72% of the polled Ukrainians demonstrate a positive attitude to Mykhailo Grushevskiy, 8% - negative. About half estimate positively Ivan Mazepa (52%) and Petro I (50%); at the same time, negative attitude to the latter is somewhat more intense (29% against 22%).

Positive attitude to Fidel Castro is shown by 36%, negative – 22%, 42% hesitate with their estimation or he is just not known at all. 

35% demonstrate a positive attitude to Stepan Bandera, 46% – negative, 18% hesitate with estimation. 26% - positive attitude to Simon Petlyura, 45% – negative. Almost one-fourth hesitate with an attitude.

25% show a positive attitude to Ronald Reagan, 24% – negative, half – hesitate or he is not known.

The worst attitude is recorded toward Stalin and Lenin – only 22 and 25% of the polled accordingly marked positive attitude toward them. Namely these figures have the greatest indexes of negative attitude – two-thirds demonstrate negative attitude to Stalin, almost 60% – to Lenin.

The dynamics show that the number of Stalin supporters in the last few years almost has not changed (20-24%). Positive attitude to Bandera has considerably grown as compared to the 2012 indexes (35% this year against 22% in 2012) and has somewhat increased as compared to 2014 (31%).

This year the number of Ukrainians who estimate Petro I positively has decreased as compared to the 2012 results, but has remained at the same level as it was in 2014 – 59% (2012) and 50% (2014, 2016). At the same time, positive estimation of Mazepa has grown up (to 50%) as compared to the 2012 results (44%) and 2014 (41%).

In the West, there is a positive attitude toward figures of Ukrainians –  Grushevskiy, Mazepa, Bandera, and Petlyura, while in the East – an expressed positive attitude toward historical figures of Russians - Petro I, Lenin, and Stalin.
The higher level of the respondents’ education, the more expressed their positive attitude toward Grushevskiy, Mazepa, Petlyura, and Reagan; the lower level of the respondents’ education, the more expressed their positive attitude toward Lenin and Stalin.

Among rural citizens more positive attitude is shown toward Grushevskiy and Bandera, and more negative – toward Petro I, Castro, Lenin, and Stalin.

Supporters of Svoboda show the most positive attitude to Grushevskiy, Mazepa, and Bandera, supporters of BPP are also positive towards Grushevskiy, Mazepa, Bandera, and Petlyura. Among the Samopomich supporters, Grushevskiy, Mazepa, and Bandera were marked positively. Opposition block supporters were the most positive toward Petro I, Lenin, and Stalin.

Audience: residents of Ukraine aged 18 and older. The sample is representative by age, sex, region, and settlement type. Total sample: 2000 respondents. Personal formalized interview (face-to-face). The margin of error does not exceed 2.2%. Period of the survey:  4-11 November 2016