According to polls conducted by spiral Hayrikyan, 22.98 per cent out of 1284 respondents were in favor of the Customs Union. 28.03 per cent of respondents were in favor of the European Union. I would very much like to see the survey results reflecting the reality. Moreover, if that were true, then we would have another state, another power, another system. Unfortunately, this is not true, and the Director of the Armenian Sociological Association Gevorg Poghosyan is right on casting doubt on these figures.
They say that everything depends on how you are formulating the question. If, for example, you ask, “Do you want that your salary would be 10 thousand euros?”, the overwhelming majority of Armenians will answer, yes. And if you ask, “Do you want the Russians to move its troops from here, and the Turks will occupy Armenia and Karabakh?”, all Armenians will answer, no. However, one cannot draw a conclusion that the first “yes”, by itself, means support the EU, and those second saying “no” mechanically support the CU. Of course, I slightly exaggerate the sociological “tricks,” but sometimes the mechanism of obtaining the desired result is as such.
Purely estimated by sight, without the surveys, the supporters of the Customs Union in Armenia form the overwhelming majority. This does not mean that the majority is always right. Those, who understand that the majority is wrong, should not try to play up to it, should not be afraid to go against the flow. Unfortunately, not only the authorities that have chosen the wrong path, but the majority of the opposition, in fact, have joined the propaganda of the Customs Union. Of course, there are a purely political calculations, but also a desire not to go against the majority.
The same in smaller issues. The majority of Armenians do not want to drive their car by the law, and, naturally, these people are complaining about when the radars and speed cameras record their violations, resulting in fines they pay. The public and politicians, instead of saying, “My dear people, respect traffic rules, do not speed up,” do not display “agility” by pushing your way through this-or-that line,” these figures are trying to point out the disorderly drivers that the radars belong to Sashik (which, by the way, is not true), and it needs to fight against them.
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One can conduct a sociological poll, who wants to drive a car in Armenia by breaking the traffic rules. I think the honest answer would be a very high percentage of such people; it approximately will comply with the percent of the Customs Union supporters.
Aram Abrahamyan
