More than one-third of respondents believe that the final evaluation of Sergey Lazarev was biased.
MOSCOW, May 23, 2019. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of a survey devoted to the results of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest held in Israel.
The number of Russian viewers who watched the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision (22%) is much lower than it was three years ago (38%); however it is higher than the number of viewers of the last year’s Song Contest (16%) when no singer represented Russia. Most of those who watched the Eurovision are women (30%) and persons aged 60 and over (35%) rather than men (12%) or the middle-aged (14% of the 35-44-year-olds).
Most of respondents (71%) know that it was Sergey Lazarev who represented Russia in the Grand Final (when asked without prompt). Those who are well aware are Muscovites and St Petersburgians (76%), women (79%), and active Internet users (73%). According to half of respondents (52%), the selection of the candidate representing Russia at the 2019 Eurovision was unbiased.
Those Russians who watched the Grand Final say that the voting of the TV viewers was objective (52%) compared to the jury opinions (21%). As to the fairness of the final evaluation of the Russian representative, Russians provide ambiguous opinions: 25% say that the judgment was fair; 37% oppose them. Fair judgment is mainly reported by young respondents (39% of the 18-24-year-olds).
VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on May 21, 2019. The survey involved 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over. The survey was telephone-based and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
The 2009 and 2016 results are based on household surveys.
Did you watch the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||
2009 | 2016 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Yes, I did | 35 | 38 | 16 | 22 |
No , I did not | 64 | 61 | 84 | 78 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Do you know who represented Russia at the Eurovision this year? Name this person (open-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||
Total respondents | Those who use the Internet almost every day | Those who use the Internet several times a week, several times a month | Those who use the Internet from time to time or never use it | |
Lazarev (or Sergey Lazarev) | 71 | 73 | 66 | 65 |
Other name/ band name | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Don’t know | 27 | 25 | 33 | 34 |
In your opinion, were the following procedures objective? (closed-ended question, one answer per line, % of those who watched the broadcast of the Grand Final) | ||||
| Year/answer option | Rather objective | Rather not objective | Don’t know |
Selection of candidate representing Russia at the 2019 Eurovision | 2019 | 52 | 36 | 12 |
Counting the votes of TV viewers | 2019 | 52 | 34 | 14 |
2018 | 41 | 43 | 16 | |
2016 | 51 | 40 | 9 | |
Voting by professional jury | 2019 | 21 | 66 | 13 |
2018 | 32 | 51 | 17 | |
2016 | 10 | 80 | 10 | |
In your opinion, were the final scores for Sergei Lazarev representing Russia at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest objective or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and over |
Rather objective | 25 | 39 | 22 | 28 | 23 | 24 |
Rather not objective | 37 | 33 | 31 | 32 | 36 | 48 |
Don’t know | 38 | 28 | 47 | 40 | 41 | 28 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!