The messenger logo

Do you trust opinion polls conducted in Georgia?

Monday, October 25
“I think polls conducted by international organisations are quite trustworthy. I don’t think they will sell their reputation in favour of any political force in Georgia. I never trust the polls conducted by the parties themselves.”
Inna, Journalist, 21

“All the polls conducted in Georgia are financed by international organizations which I think are worthy of our trusted.”
Lika, Photographer, 28

“I think all the public polls have been organised by the United National Movement, thus they show results according to the government’s decisions. I mean it is easy to bribe an organisation working on analytical issues, even in our country and our Government can easily influence them…”
Irakli, Doctor, 35

“There are quite a lot of trustworthy international organisations working on Georgian issues. As a sociologist I would like to explain the difficulties of falsifying the results for each question. What’s more an international organisation working throughout the world won’t start talking with governments of small countries like Georgia not to face any international sanctions in future.”
Tamar, Sociologist, 23

“I don’t trust as I think that almost all of them are ordered by some political party – ruling or opposition ones. The parties with more money are usually winners – they can pay more to the research companies which conduct the public opinion polls. We have seen examples quite a lot of times, when the ruling party is using so called independent polls as a tool of gaining more votes during elections.”
Rusudan, Teacher, 40

“I think they are credible. Many people get irritated seeing Saakashvili and his team always shown in a positive light in the polls, however we should admit that this is the reality – that Saakashvili and the National Movement Party is far more popular than any opposition politician or political party in Georgia.”
Dato, Engineer, 52

“I do not believe in them, for several reasons. First of all I do not trust those organisations which are holding public polls in Georgia and also that the people who are questioned, always tell truth.”
Tornike, Sportsman, 21

“As far as I have seen, almost all public polls have shown those results, which have been then confirmed by the elections. It means that they are worth believing in.”
Nutsa, Cashier, 29

“I think that the present Georgian authorities are behind all those public polls. They need the polls to give the results they need, to show to the international community that everything is happening according to democratic standards in the country and that the people are content with the present authority. That is far from the reality.”
Gela, Historian, 51