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Nearly three quarters of Romanians believe that both the country and the world in general are heading in the wrong direction. This is the conclusion of the latest survey commissioned by a Romanian online publication, confirming the results of another sociological survey published earlier this year. Similar percentages indicate that only 30% of Romanians are optimistic about the way things are going. But even if they are not happy with the direction of the country and the world, the majority of Romanians are satisfied with their own lives, their daily lives. The percentage of those who are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives increased in 2023 compared to 2022 by almost 20%.
70% of Romanians believe that things are going in the wrong direction
According to the recently released survey conducted at the end of February by INSCOP, more than 70% of Romanians believe that things are going in the wrong direction in Romania and in the world. At the same time, the percentage of those who think that their life is worse than it was five years ago is more than double the percentage of those who said life is better, with 60%-30%. According to the survey, however, the percentage of those who think things are moving in a good direction is slightly up in 2022, from 20.8% to 25.5%. And the percentage of those who are pessimistic about the country’s future is down in 2022, from 74.5% to 70.1%. The rest of the respondents did not answer this question. The percentages are almost equal when it comes to the question of whether the direction the world is heading in is right or wrong: 24% of Romanians think the direction is right, 70.6% think it is wrong and 5.4% did not answer.
According to the recently released survey, a significant percentage, more than two thirds of Romanians, believe that their life has deteriorated over the last five years, and the percentage of those who hope to have a better life in the next five years is just under 45%. However, the percentage of those who think their life has improved compared to five years ago is significantly higher than those in a similar survey conducted by the same firm in 2022, rising to 36.9% from 29.3%. According to the current survey, those who think their life has become better than five years ago are people aged 18-44, those with higher education, those with high and very high incomes and voters of the ruling PSD-PNL Alliance in Romania. The percentages of those who hope their life will be better in five years’ time and those who think the opposite are roughly equal – 44.4% and 46.2% respectively, and the percentage of those who do not know/do not answer is 9.4%. Most of those who think their life will be better in 2029 are 18-29 year olds, people with higher education and voters of the far-right conservative party AUR.
The survey was conducted by INSCOP Research using telephone interviews with a sample of 1100 people from the 22nd to 29th of February. The maximum allowable error of the data is +- 2.95% at 95% confidence.
According to another survey, conducted by another public opinion polling firm last December, it shows similar percentages in terms of Romanians’ perception of the road Romania is on. According to this sociological survey, carried out by IRES, the total number of pessimistic respondents – those who think things will be worse and those who think they will not change compared to last year – is almost 70%.
Romanians have extremely low trust in the political class
At the same time, the survey reveals that the majority of Romanians believe that this year’s elections will not influence their lives for the better, amid extremely low confidence in the political class. Thus, less than a third of respondents said they think 2024 will be better than 2023, less than a quarter – 23% – think it will be the same, and 43% think it will be worse. The optimists are among the age groups at the extremes – the very young and the elderly – those with low levels of education and in rural areas. At the other end of the scale, pessimists are working people aged 36 to 65.
Asked what they would like to see change, respondents indicated living standards, government concern for the needs of citizens, or the fulfilment of election promises and honesty from those in power. However, one in five respondents could not give an answer. In terms of political change, most respondents indicated some fundamental, systemic changes: most would like to see a change in the President, the government and the Parliament, as well as the whole political class.
However, the survey revealed that Romanians’ expectations of the 2024 election year are quite low. The survey’s findings show that only 16% of Romanians believe that this year’s elections will have a positive impact on their lives and only one in five believe that life will be better for all citizens after the elections. The optimists are young people and people with lower levels of education, who believe that the four elections will have a positive impact on Romanians’ lives. More pessimists are among men than women and in the 36-65 age group. However, the survey data confirm Eurostat’s conclusion on the level of satisfaction with the quality of life. Even though they are unhappy with the direction of the country and the world, have low trust in the political class and do not see elections as likely to change anything, most Romanians are satisfied with their lives. Nearly 60% of IRES survey respondents said they were satisfied and very satisfied with the way they live. At the same time, only 5% of those surveyed have everything they need, and 6% say they have suffered from hunger. The percentage of those who are satisfied with their daily life has increased in the last year, with only 41% in 2022.
This survey was conducted by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy, between the 12th and the 19th of December, on a sample of 1075 people, using the telephone interview method and was self-funded. Margin of error allowed: +_3%.
Romanian elections in 2024 – estimated turnout over 50%
Although most Romanians believe that this year’s elections will not change their lives, the latest opinion polls measuring the likely turnout give turnout percentages of over 50%. According to a recent CIRA poll, more than 53% of Romanians eligible to vote say they will go to the polls in the European Parliament elections. On the other hand, according to another poll, conducted by INSCOP at the end of January, only 4.7% of Romanians believe that the European parliamentary elections are the most important and 20.4% that the most important election would be the one to appoint local authorities. Most respondents indicated the presidential elections as the most important this year – 42.3%, and 18.1% the elections for the Parliament. The percentage of those who answered that none of these elections is important is only 1.8%, and of those who did not indicate an answer 0.8%.
Romania second in the EU in terms of satisfaction with quality of life
Eurostat data for 2022 ranked Romania second in the EU in terms of satisfaction with quality of life, on a par with Poland and Finland. Based on their own self-reporting of how they rate their lives, Romanians score above the European average on almost all of the ranking indicators – from housing situation, job, personal health and even income. This means that Romanians are “happier” than most people in the European Union. The only country to score higher than all three is Austria. At the opposite end of the ranking were Germany and Bulgaria.