section_path: Public life/Public opinion
section_name: Public opinion
paragraph_text: Public opinion
  
  Independent polling is tightly restricted in Belarus. Surveys are monopolized by the government, which either does not publish its surveys or uses them for propagandistic purposes.
  
  According to a leaked internal poll, a third of the population had trust in Lukashenko. The last credible public poll in Belarus was a 2016 poll showing approximately 30% approval for Lukashenko.
  
  Lukashenko is referred to as "Batska" (бацька, "father") by his supporters.
  
  During the 2020–21 Belarusian protests, opponents of Lukashenko began to refer to him as " Sasha 3% " on the basis that they believed that he was only supported by three percent of the Belarusian population. The term has subsequently become a popular meme within the Belarusian opposition appearing on T-shirts and posters. Lukashenko has also been referred to as "Tarakanishche" ("Cockroach") by his opponents in reference to the poem " The Monster Cockroach ", in which a moustached cockroach inflicts a reign of terror on the other animals before being eaten by a sparrow.