IRI Poll: Economic and Healthcare Reforms Should be Top Priorities of Georgian Government

Tbilisi, Georgia – IRI today released its latest poll of Georgian public opinion.  The poll, conducted June 26 – July 4, 2012, is a comprehensive analysis of attitudes regarding the current Georgian economic, social and political landscape.

Anticipation among Georgian voters for the October 2012 parliamentary election remains strong, with 91 percent stating that they definitely or likely will vote.  The primary concern of the electorate continues to be unemployment at 51 percent (up one percent from April 2012), followed by return of the lost territories at 18 percent.  Along the same lines, citizens think that the government should address economic and healthcare reform as top policy priorities (34 percent each, of first choice responses). 

The three most trusted institutions continued to be the church (94 percent, up two percent), the army (89 percent, down one percent), and the police (88 percent, down two percent).  The least trusted were trade unions (17 percent) and the newly-formed Chamber of Control (35 percent).

IRI has been conducting polls in Georgia since May 2003, prior to the Rose Revolution.  The data collected is used both to gauge public opinion, and also to assist IRI’s political party partners with building platforms based on the issues closest to the Georgian people.

The randomly selected sample of 1,503 men and women of voting age was collected nationwide.  The study was designed and analyzed by Baltic Surveys/The Gallup Organization, and was fielded by the Institute for Polling and Marketing under the supervision of IRI.  The margin of error for the national sample does not exceed plus or minus 2.5 percent with a response rate of 70 percent.