Poll: 66% of Georgian want athletes to participate in Sochi

Downhill skier Nino Tsiklauri and three other Georgian athletes will take part in the Olympics. (ambebi.ge.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–66 percent of Georgians approve of the decision by the government that Georgian athletes will participate in the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics, while 17 percent disapprove of this decision. 16 percent didn’t answer.

In September 2013, 76 percent supported this decision and 11 were against. These are some of the results of a new survey of public attitudes conducted by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in November 2013, and published on Wednesday.

90 percent of those questioned approve of the negotiations with Russia about the export of Georgian wine, water and agriculture products to Russia; however 72 percent are dissatisfied with Georgia’s current relations with Russia, and 22 percent are satisfied.

36 percent think Russia is a threat to Georgia but an exaggerated one, while 35 think Russia is a real and existing threat to Georgia. 23 percent believe Russia is no threat to Georgia at all, the rest don’t know.

85 percent approve of the government’s goal to join the EU and 81 percent approve the goal to join NATO.

11 percent of those questioned agree or strongly agree that Georgia should join the Eurasian Union led by Russian Federation. 68 percent agree that Georgia should join the EU.

3 915 people were questioned between November 13 and 17, 2013. The survey was financed by the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Read the results here: http://www.ndi.org/files/Georgia-Public-Attitudes-Poll-121813-ENG.pdf