It is no secret that representatives of different social-demographic groups of the population have differing political (and not only political) opinions. It is quite evident from the results of the October national opinion poll by IISEPS, presented in the context of major social-demographic and regional characteristics. For example, this data* shows (See Tables 1-6), that women turned most active in the voting process (87.3%), pensioners (90.7%) and representatives of senior age groups (aged 40–49 – 86.2%, aged 50–59 – 89.7%, 60 and up – 91.0%). Residents of Grodno (87.6%) and Gomel (88.6%) regions as well as rural population were the most active.
|
Picture 1. Depending on gender |
Picture 2. Depending on age |
|
Picture 3. Depending on education |
Picture 4. Depending on social status |
|
Picture 5. Depending on place of living |
Picture 6. Depending on type of settlement |
Basically, the same population groups seem the most satisfied with the official voting results: women (60.1%), pensioners (81.7%), aged 50–59 (64.0%) and those aged 60 and up (84.8%), having elementary or incomplete secondary education (84.1% and 69.4%, respectively), residents of Gomel (69.8%) and Moguilev (60.3%) regions, as well as rural population (65.2%). At the same time, the same categories trust the official voting returns most of all: women – 62.3%, pensioners – 81.5%, voters aged 50–59 – 63.2% and those aged 60 and up – 84.3%, having elementary (85.6%) and incomplete secondary (67.0%) education, Gomel (70.3%) and Moguilev (64.9%) regions, as well as residents of rural areas – 67.3%.
The electoral choice is adequate to such ratio. So, the majority of women (55.4%), pensioners (78.1%), elderly (aged 50–59 – 57.9%, aged 60 and up – 80.9%), those of little education (with elementary education – 81.6%, incomplete secondary – 63.4%), first of all residing in the Gomel region (65.4%), as well as rural area (59.9%) voted in favor of A. Lukashenko. The least support A. Lukashenko enjoyed with men (39.5%), students (21.1%), employees of private sector (25.0%), youth and those of middle age (aged 18–19 – 22.6%, aged 30–39 – 26.5%), voters with higher education (35.2%), residing in Minsk (33.6%) and large cities (41.4%).
In the whole an analysis of respondents’ answers allows to imagine average images of A. Lukashenko’s supporters and opponents. The first is a woman-pensioner with elementary or incomplete secondary education or an elderly unskilled female worker of a public company, mainly residing in rural areas in eastern Belarus (first of all, in the Gomel region). The second is a student or a young employee of private sector with higher education, residing in Minsk or in large cities, first of all, of the Grodno region.