The US Agency for International Development plans to conduct three annual public opinion polls in Serbia with at least 2.4 thousand people each. The department will hire a contractor for this purpose.
The implementer must also conduct a round of surveys in eight separate focus groups that will help determine how U.S. assistance is perceived in Serbia.
“The 2024 survey will allow us to establish baseline indicators on the issue of awareness and points of view (regarding US assistance to Serbia. -
RT
) and carry out in-depth analysis across various demographic groups,” the document notes.
Subsequent surveys will help track changes in the population's attitude towards USAID programs influenced by “information messages, campaigns, materials and other tools and means of communication,” American experts emphasize.
According to the document, opinion poll data will be used for strategic planning of further communications. The contract with the contractor is for three years.
Vladimir Olenchenko, a researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, in a conversation with RT noted that Washington is seeking to find supporters among the Serbs and keep relations with the United States in focus.
“There are two goals here. One is to try to find among the Serbs those people who sympathize with the States. And the second is to draw attention to the United States and try to present it as a force that could “help” Serbia,” the expert emphasized.
Previously, the State Department planned to spend more than $700 thousand on “democratic processes” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.