KYIV. June 31 (Interfax) - Nearly 40% of Ukrainians disapprove of the Social-Democratic Party (United)'s initiative to hold a referendum on Ukraine's accession to NATO and the Common Economic Space in the near future, as is evident from a poll of 2,000 respondents, which the Institute of Social and Political Psychology conducted in 334 communities of Ukraine on January 20-27 and whose results the institute's director, Mykola Slyusarevsky, announced at a Tuesday press conference.

"Nearly 40% of those polled expressed their negative attitude towards the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United)'s initiative to hold a referendum, and 35% of the respondents supported this initiative more or less," Slyusarevsky said.

The poll showed that 46.1% of the respondents are against joining NATO (55% in July 2005), while 30.6% would favor joining the organization.

As regards membership of the Common Economic Space, 31% would be against it (24.5% in July 2005), and 42.2% would support this step.

The rest of the respondents said they would not cast their ballots in the referendum.

At the same time, if asked whether they wanted Ukraine to join the European Union at a referendum, over 65% of the respondents would give a positive answer, which makes 50.5% of Ukraine's adult population, the poll showed. Slyusarevsky also said that another poll showed that Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn has the highest trust rating among Ukrainians -39.6%. Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz is trusted by 39.4% and President Viktor Yushchenko by 38.0%.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's trust rating is 36.4%, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Anatoly Kinakh 36.3%, Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko 36.3%, and Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov 34.8%.

Among social institutions, the church has the highest trust rating -57.9%. The armed forces are trusted by 47.8% and the educational system by 47.2%. Since September 2005, more people have started to trust political parties - 16.4%, a rise from 13.6%.