Results of our studies

IN BRIEF

Most of Russians consider that the oligarchs have not disappeared despite considerable political and economical changes happened in Russia. Abramovich, Deripaska and Prokhorov are in the top three famous oligarchs. 

MOSCOW, April 12, 2018. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a study devoted to how Russians describe the oligarchs.

An overwhelming majority of Russians (94%) do not doubt that Russia has oligarchs. Popular rating is headed by Roman Abramovich (named by 15%). Other popular oligarchs are Oleg Deripaska (8%) and Mikhail Prokhorov (7%).

Most of Russians describe oligarchs as people with a big fortune (52%). At the same time, the number of negative perceptions exceeds the positive ones; people’s main claim is the methods of wealth accumulation (20%).

The results of oligarchs’ activities in Russia are assessed extremely negatively (44% of those who are confident that Russia has oligarchs consider that they do more harm than good), rather than positively (9%). negative perceptions are mainly expressed by male respondents (52%), people who have low financial self-assessment (51%), and rural area residents (48%).

The VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on April 7-8 2018. The survey involved 2,000 Russians aged 18 and over, 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 2.2%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

 

In your opinion, are there oligarchs in Russia? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of all respondents)

 

Total respondents

Yes

94

No

3

Don’t know

3


Can you cite the names of the Russian oligarchs? Up to 5 answers are possible. (open-ended question, up to 5 answers, % of answers of those who consider that Russia has oligarchs; 10 most informative answers)

 

% of respondents

Abramovich

15

Deripaska

8

Prokhorov

7

Potanin

4

Chubais

4

Miller

4

Usmanov

4

Berezovsky

3

Sechin

3

Khodorkovsky

2

 

Have you heard of the word “oligarch”? If yes, can you explain who oligarchs are? Up to 3 answers (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of all respondents, answers per line by at least 1% of respondents)

 

Total respondents

Neutral definitions

Rich people, millionaires/billionaires

52

Rich people who have political influence

14

Businessmen with huge income

12

They have high social status, connections  

1

Negative definitions

People who have lots of stolen money (illegally accumulated)

20

People who only think about their own wealth accumulation, they ignore the needs of their employees

2

They take out the money to other countries, they have foreign bank accounts and do not pay taxes in Russia

2

Public servants with extremely high income

2

Self-indulgent bourgeois

1

Unpunished people

1

Negative attitudes

1

Bribe-takers, corrupt persons

1

Positive  definitions

Smart, entrepreneurial, hard-working people

3

Successful, lucky people

1

 

 

Other  

4

I heard the word but I don’t know what it means

2

Don’t know

6

 

In your opinion, do the oligarchs do more harm or good to Russia?

 (closed-ended question, one answer, % of answers of those who consider that Russia has oligarchs)

 

% of respondents

Aged 18-24

25-34

35-44

45-59

60 and over

Likely more good

9

7

7

11

9

8

Harm and good equally

36

46

37

36

36

30

Likely more harm

44

35

45

43

42

47

I cannot assess it/ Don’t know

11

12

11

10

13

15

 

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!

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