INSCOP Survey:More than two-thirds of Romanians believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction

More than two-thirds of Romanians believe that in Romania things are heading in the wrong direction, over 40% believe that the economy will have a negative evolution and over half say that in 2024 they will have a worse standard of living than in 2023, shows the data of an INSCOP survey commissioned by News.ro.    Almost 20% of those surveyed believe in a positive evolution of the economy in the next period, the percentage being on the rise compared to September 2023, when it was 15.6%.   24.8% of Romanians believe that things in Romania are heading in a good direction, while 69.7% are pessimistic about the country’s future. 5.5% represents the percentage of non-responses. The most optimistic about the direction of the country are PSD, PNL and United Right Alliance voters, respectively people with very high incomes, while AUR voters, gray collar workers and people with low incomes represent the population categories among which the percentages higher of pessimistic respondents, according to the survey.   In January 2024, 19.9% of Romanians believe that the country’s economy will have a positive evolution in the next period (compared to 15.6% in September 2023), 43.9% of respondents believe that Romania’s economy will had a negative evolution in the next period (compared to 43.6% of respondents in September 2023), 31.8% believe that the economy will stagnate (compared to 32.5% in September 2023).    The percentage of non-responses is 4.4% (compared to 8.3% in September 2023). PSD voters, people with primary education and people with high incomes represent the population categories in which the highest percentages of respondents who believe that Romania’s economy will have a positive evolution in the next period are recorded.   AUR voters, those who have accounts on Instagram and Tik Tok are the most pessimistic population categories regarding the evolution of the next period of the Romanian economy. The highest percentages of respondents who believe that the Romanian economy will stagnate in the next period are recorded among voters of the United Right Alliance, people with higher education and people with very high incomes.   37.4% of respondents think that their standard of living this year will be better than last year, 56% think that their standard of living will be worse this year than last year past and 6.7% do not know or do not answer. Young people and people with very high incomes are the most optimistic categories regarding the evolution of their standard of living compared to last year, while AUR voters and people with very low incomes are the most pessimistic.   “Although there is a slight increase in the percentage of those who believe that the economy will have a positive evolution in the next period, compared to September 2023, possibly on the background of contextual optimism specific to the beginning of the year, the majority of Romanians still believe that the economy will have a negative evolution or it will stagnate, and two thirds still believe that things in Romania are going in the wrong direction. A little over a third of Romanians believe that in 2004 their standard of living will be better than in 2023, while a little over half believe that their standard of living will be worse this year compared to last year”, says Remus Stefureac, director INSCOP Research conducted January 16-24.   The majority of Romanians consider the protests of farmers and transporters legitimate. 93.6% of respondents to a survey carried out by INSCOP believe that farmers and transporters are entitled to take to the streets, and over 60% of those surveyed disapprove of politicians’ attempts to associate themselves with the protests.   Asked if they heard about the transporters’ and farmers’ protests, 96.2% of the respondents answered in the affirmative. The percentage of those who have not heard is 3.6%, and that of non-answers is 0.2% 93.6% of the respondents believe that the transporters and farmers who started protest movements have the right to protest, while only 3.5% do not support the protests, and 1.5% believe that they cannot express themselves, because they do not have enough information.   The percentage of those who did not answer is 1.4%. 65.5% of the respondents have a bad opinion about the fact that the representatives of some political parties tried to participate in the protests of farmers and transporters, considering that they are not interested in finding solutions, but only pursue their electoral interest.