Over 90% of Crimea residents will vote in referendum - poll
MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - More than 70% of residents of the Crimea polled recently said they would back the Crimea's membership of the Russian Federation.
Ninety-nine percent of those polled said they were informed of the planned referendum, and 92% said they would vote.
Respondents were polled by telephone by the Crimean Republic Institute of Political and Sociological Studies on March 8 to 10. In total, 1,300 people were polled in Crimea and Sevastopol, including 300 residents of Sevastopol.
"An overwhelming majority of residents of Crimea and Sevastopol said they would cast their votes in the March 16 referendum and support the Crimea's accession to Russia," according to a posting on the Crimea Online. Crimean Referendum website which ordered the poll.
Seventy-seven percent said they will support the Crimea's joining Russia and only 8% want the 1992 constitution of the Republic of the Crimea to be restored," the posting says.
Asked whether Sevastopol should join Russia as a constituent entity, 85% of respondents in Sevastopol answered in the affirmative and 6% in the negative.
Ninety-seven percent of residents of Crimea and Sevastopol have a negative attitude to the current situation in Ukraine, 84% said the country is in a state of crisis, 13% that the situation is extremely unstable, 1% that the situation is stable and 1% said the country is dynamically developing.
Seventy-nine percent of those polled said the situation in Ukraine is getting worse, 11% that the situation is not changing for the better or worse, and 6% said the situation is getting back to normal.
Eighty-three percent of residents of the Crimea and Sevastopol see the regime change in late February as an extremely negative occurrence and 83% support the Crimean authorities' moves.