On 27 January, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) published their results of the public opinion polls conducted in Georgia between 7th and 13th December 2021.

The key takeaways from the polls were:

1. Georgians see insufficient progress on the top national issues of concern and think the situations regarding poverty (75%), crime (58%), territorial integrity (53%), and education (51%) has gotten worse in the last 10 years.
2. A majority of Georgians do not think anyone - neither government (51%) or opposition parties (53%) - is acting in their best interest.
3. Considering extreme political polarisation, Georgians are supportive of a wide cross-party collaboration (34%).
4. A majority of Georgians believe that domestic actors are best placed to facilitate mediation between the opposition and the government. 34% of respondents stated that the parties themselves should facilitate the political dialogue in the country instead of western actors (18%), the Georgian President (11%), or the Speaker of the parliament (5%).
5. Only 39% of Georgians expressed their beliefs that the country meets all the necessary criteria of a democratic state.
6. The government’s handling of the Covid-19 situation was acknowledged and praised, with 73% of the questioned expressing trust in the healthcare system, however many voiced vaccine hesitancy (42% of respondents).

Poverty, rising prices/inflation and jobs were named as the major issues the country faces, followed by territorial integrity and pensions. It was also stressed in the report that economic concerns of the Georgian remained consistent regardless of their political affiliation. However, the views on the issues on the fight against corruption, affordable healthcare, the court system, and freedom of speech were heavily influenced by political affiliation in the country whereas the supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) political party stated that there has been an improvement on these issues, while the supporters of the opposition and politically neutral citizens denied any improvements.

The satisfaction in the major state institutions in the country, including Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, President Salome Zourabichvili, the Parliament as well as the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) remained low according to the polls, with only 39% of the questioned assessing it as good. Of special notice was the assessment of Garibashvili’s performance, who in comparison to the polls from December 2021, where 46% positively assessed it, has dropped down to 27% of the support. On a foreign policy level, the public support for the EU and NATO membership remained consistent across all political affiliations.