Kyiv Post | 27Apr2011 | Interfax-Ukraine
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/103040/

Poll: Some 60% Ukrainians see Holodomor famine as genocide

Some 60% of Ukrainians support the statement that the Holodomor famine in 1932-1933 was genocide against the Ukrainian people.

According to a poll by the Rating Sociological Group presented at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday by the director of the group, Oleksiy Antypovych, 58% of those polled think that the Holodomor famine was genocide against Ukrainians.

Some 29% do not agree with such a statement, and 13% did not answer the question.

Antypovych noted that in the recent year some fluctuations in Ukrainians' opinion on the issue could be seen.

For instance, in March 2010 some 61% of respondents agreed with the statement, in January 2011 the number of supporters of this idea dropped to 53%, and in April it increased to 58%.

With regard to regional location, about 90% of residents in western regions of Ukraine, 70% in northern and central regions, and almost 50% in eastern regions agreed with the statement.

As for the order of the third Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko to declare the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-UPA) Stepan Bandera a Hero of Ukraine, the number of supporters of the cancellation of this order also changed in the past year.

In particular, in March 2010 some 53% of those polled voted for the cancellation of the order, while in April 2011 this number dropped to 51%.

At the same time, the number of people that were against the cancellation also grew, from 28% to 32%.

Almost half of Ukrainians (49%, including 73% in the southern regions of the country) think that the OUN-UPA should not be declared participants in the fight for the independence of Ukraine. Some 27% (72% in western regions of the country) approve of such an idea.

As for the political preferences of the supporters of the idea of declaring OUN-UPA liberators, they include some 90% of the supporters of the Svoboda Association, almost 50% of the supporters of the Front for Change Party, the Civil Position Party, and the Batkivschyna Party, and some 40% supporters of the UDAR Party.

The poll was conducted from March 30 to April 9, 2011.

Some 2,000 respondents aged over 18 years old from all regions of Ukraine, Crimea, Kyiv, and Sevastopol participated in the study.

The poll's margin of error does not exceed 2.2%.