Citizens’ Pulse: Sense of crisis heightened due to Russia’s war of aggression

NordenBladet — The Citizens’ Pulse survey commissioned by the Government shows stress and concerns about Finland’s security and economy brought on by the crisis in Ukraine. The 33rd round of the survey was moved up by two weeks and the questions were modified to take into account the current situation.The survey showed an increase in stress, especially among 15–29-year-olds and 60–74-year-olds. Citizens’ sense of crisis is now at a similar level to where it was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and when the Omicron variant became the dominant strain of the virus. A total of 45 per cent of the respondents were concerned about the effects of the crisis in Ukraine on Finland’s security, while around 58 per cent were concerned about its impact on the economy.  Almost half of respondents – 48 per cent – were very concerned or fairly concerned that the war could escalate further.Trust in the Government, political parties and the media has increased significantly, by about 10 percentage points since the previous survey. The majority of citizens are strongly in favour of supporting Ukraine. Nearly 90 per cent of the respondents approve of the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia, even if they may have significant detrimental effects on Finland. Similarly, almost 85 per cent of Finns would be prepared to receive a considerable number of Ukrainian refugees if necessary.Citizens express need for more information, strong willingness to helpJust over half of the respondents expressed the need for more information on how to prepare for a crisis or incident and how to help those affected by it. Around half of the respondents felt that they were at least somewhat inadequately prepared for a crisis. Almost nine out of ten respondents would be prepared to do volunteer work in the event of a crisis if asked to do so by the authorities.At the same time, concern about COVID-19 has dropped to its lowest level since the start of the pandemic, and compliance with health security measures has clearly declined. Satisfaction with the authorities’ COVID-19 communications has increased considerably, from 48 to 58 per cent. Around half of the respondents would get a fourth vaccine if the health authorities recommended it.