90% of Transcarpathian Hungarians will not vote for Poroshenko and have never heard about Zelensky – polls

In December 2018, the Tivadar Legotsky Research Center (works on the basis of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute) conducted a large-scale public opinion survey among the Hungarians of Transcarpathia, the Mukachevo.net reported.

In total, 2506 people were interviewed in 86 settlements populated by the Hungarian community, according to a representative sample of different age groups and sex.

In particular, during the poll, representatives of the national minority were asked about their views and expectations in connection with the presidential elections in 2019.

According to the results, the respondents are mostly concerned about the current life of the Hungarians in Transcarpathia. Transcarpathian Hungarians also show great interest in Ukrainian political events, most of them are concerned about the situation in the country. They are also very interested in political events in Hungary.

The vast majority of respondents (48%) expect positive changes for the country and the Hungarians after the election. 52% of those polled said they would definitely take part in the presidential election, 34% had not yet decided, 9% said they probably would not take part, and only 5% said they did not plan to go to the polls at all.

Out of all the potential candidates for the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko has the lowest popularity among Hungarians of Transcarpathia – 90% of them do not plan to vote for him. Only 2% of respondents are ready to support Poroshenko. This high level of mistrust to the current President is due mainly to the fact that Petro Poroshenko failed to fulfill his promises made in 2014 to Transcarpathian Hungarians.

Yulia Tymoshenko also has low level of trust – 73% of respondents are not supporting her. However, this Ukrainian politician is one of the most popular candidates, as 11% of Hungarians of Transcarpathia are planning to vote for her. As for showman Volodymyr Zelensky, most of the respondents do not know him, so his popularity among the Hungarian population is low.