On February 3, the opinion poll, conducted by the Center for Sociological Research and Marketing “CBS-Research” and ordered by the Community for Advocacy and Public Policy “WatchDog.MD”, was made public.
The survey includes multiple questions that focus on the impact of misinformation and propaganda on public opinion in Moldova. In particular, there is still a very high impact of Kremlin propaganda on topics such as security, Russian aggression in Ukraine, international relations and energy issues. Particularly worrying are the trends in the responses on the causes of the war and attitudes towards the country victim of aggression. Thus, less than half of the respondents said that Russia and its leadership are to blame for the war. At the same time, only 36% of respondents named Ukraine as the right side in the conflict.
The survey also includes a block on citizens’ political preferences – level of trust in political leaders and voting preferences for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. We note the continued high level of support for membership of the European Union (54%) compared to the Eurasian Union (24%).
The event was organized in the framework of the project “Assessing the impact of disinformation and toxic propaganda on public opinion in the Republic of Moldova“, implemented by the “WatchDog.MD” Community with the financial support of the European Union. The project is part of the Internews programme “Community response to disinformation“.
The aim of this project is to conduct research and carry out 4 opinion polls between January-May 2023 and other analyses on the impact of disinformation and manipulation and toxic propaganda on public opinion in the Republic of Moldova. In the framework of the project, experts will provide recommendations to relevant actors for effectively combating disinformation.
The CATI (telephone interviewer moderated interview) survey was conducted by the CBS-Research Centre for Sociological and Marketing Research between 17-26 January 2023 on a stratified sample of 1001 people aged 18 and over. The sample is representative of the adult population of the Republic of Moldova, with a maximum error of +3.1%. The questionnaire was available in Romanian and Russian and respondents were given the opportunity to choose the appropriate version.
The full study can be accessed via the active link: