More than half of Russians are aware of the “Direct Line”. Most of them think that president’s dialogue with people was interesting and informative.
MOSCOW, April 22, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing how many Russians followed the “Direct Line with V. Putin”; how they asses the dialogue of the president with people; what topics they remembered.
As in the previous year, the “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” attracted the attention of more than half of Russians (54% in 2016 and 55% in 2015). Fifteen percent of respondents followed the direct line from the beginning till the end; a further 27% watched certain parts live; 12% found out about its basic points from newspaper and Internet. Forty-four percent of Russians are unaware of what the direct line was about.
Those who watched the direct line live or news consider the Q&A show informative. Twenty-eight percent say that all questions and answers were interesting (a 10-point decrease since 2014); 41% were interested in certain subjects; a further 8% think that the presidential talk was interesting but too long.
The level of satisfaction of Russians with the answers given by the president has slightly decreased over two years (from 84% in 2014 to 76% in 2016); however, it exceeds the 2011 and the 2013 levels (57%, 54%, respectively). What Russians remember most is the discussion of the roads’ condition (16%), situation at the factory on the Sakhalin Island (12%), delayed payments of salaries (9%) and children’s questions about goldfish, porridge, etc. (15%). Not enough attention was given to the following questions: increase in salaries and benefits (8%), budget sphere (4%) and pension reform (4%).
The Medialogia Company analyzed about 30000 mentions of the “Direct Line of Vladimir Putin” in the Russian media in 2016. The most popular topics are delayed payment of salaries, provision of medicines, sanctions, “Panama papers”, Timiryazev academy land and president’s private life. Foreign policy was also actively discussed (relations with Turkey, situation in Syria, relations between Moscow and Washington).
The VCIOM opinion polls were conducted on April 16-17, 2016 in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample size for each survey was 1600 persons. The surveys were conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage; the sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement. The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based formalized face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.
Russian media monitoring and analysis were carried out by the Medialogia Company from April 14-21, 2016, using approximately 31400 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, Information agencies and online media.
Did you follow the direct line with Vladimir Putin?* (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||||||||
2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
Yes, I followed attentively the live broadcast, from the beginning till the end | 22 | 23 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
Yes, I saw certain abstracts live | 32 | 33 | 33 | 30 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 26 | 20 | 28 | 27 |
Yes, I found out the basic topics of the discussion form TV news, newspapers and Internet | 12 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 17 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
No, I did not follow the presidential dialogue | 34 | 28 | 35 | 36 | 43 | 40 | 46 | 47 | 53 | 45 | 44 |
Don’t know | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
*In 2005-2007, 2013-2016 the questions referred to the “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin; in 2008-2011 – to “Talk with Vladimir Putin”.
Which of the following statements best describes your impressions of the latest president’s performance?* (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those who know the content of the Q&A show) | |||||||||||||||
2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||
The entire performance was interesting | 28 | 27 | 36 | 31 | 27 | 25 | 21 | 18 | 38 | 34 | 28 | ||||
I was interested in certain topics | 46 | 44 | 41 | 46 | 42 | 42 | 40 | 42 | 49 | 39 | 41 | ||||
The performance was interesting but too long | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 8 | ||||
It was boring; the performance did not impress me much | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 8 | ||||
Nothing but disappointment and irritation | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||||
Don’t know | 5 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | ||||
Are you generally satisfied with how the president answered the questions?* (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those who know the content of the Q&A show) | |||||||||||
2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
Likely satisfied | 73 | 73 | 78 | 75 | 73 | 68 | 57 | 54 | 84 | 81 | 76 |
Likely dissatisfied | 21 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 23 | 29 | 35 | 8 | 14 | 17 |
Don’t know | 6 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 7 |
What questions and answers do you remember? Name two or three of them, please. (open-ended question, not more than three answers, % of those who know the content of the Q&A show; answers of at least 1% of respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
Bad roads in Russia (Omsk, Tyumen) | 16 |
Questions about children (about Poroshenko and Erdogan/Artek/whether woman can become president/about porridge /about goldfish) | 15 |
Situation in Sakhalin/Kamchatka/fish factory on Shikotan/about workers who left Shikotan because they were not paid | 12 |
About salaries, control over salary payments, salary delays | 9 |
About president’s private life (health/leisure/family status/former wife) | 5 |
Healthcare issues (prices for medicine/availability of certain Russian medicines in drugstores/ financing the healthcare system) | 3 |
International situation/world politics/politics | 3 |
Housing utilities sector and capital repairs | 3 |
Living standards of Russians | 2 |
Development of agriculture and industry | 2 |
Army and defense capacity | 2 |
Situation in Ukraine, Donbass/Ukrainian government | 2 |
Economy, crisis, way out of crisis, stability | 2 |
Education, Unified state exam/assistance to school graduates | 2 |
Social policy | 1 |
Khabensky question (ban for parents to visit their children at the intensive care unit /home therapy equipment) | 1 |
Inflation | 1 |
Housing problems/housing construction/ hoodwinked investors | 1 |
Many questions were touched | 1 |
Everything was interesting | 38 |
Other | 4 |
None; Don’t know | 6 |
Are there those questions that were not mentioned during the direct line but you would like to be touched upon by the president? (open-ended question, not more than three answers, % of those who know the content of the Q&A show; answers of at least 1% of respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
Increase in salaries, pensions, social benefits to disabled persons, Russian living standards | 8 |
Budget spheres – education, healthcare, Ministry of Internal Affairs | 4 |
Pension reform, life of retired persons/Pension indexation | 4 |
Social policy (helping orphans, young families, families with many children, disabled persons, children of war) | 2 |
Anti-corruption measures | 2 |
Industry and agriculture | 2 |
Russian economy recovery/end of crisis/change of economic model | 2 |
Housing and public utilities sector | 2 |
How to tackle unemployment and redundancies | 2 |
Inflation | 1 |
Inactive local authorities/ failure to fulfill orders, lack of control and punishment | 1 |
Housing provision/ interest-holders / substandard and shabby housing | 1 |
Future of children / stability | 1 |
Development of regions (Voronezh region, Astrakhan, Altai region, Vladivostok, Far East and Primorye territory, Krasnodar region) | 1 |
Roads | 1 |
Maternity capital, protection of maternity and childhood, increase in benefits | 1 |
Ukraine and Crimea’s incorporation/DPR and LPR | 1 |
President’s private life, well-being (first lady, his daughter, Kabaeva, his favorite music) | 1 |
Gasoline prices | 1 |
Banking: mortgage, lending | 1 |
Erik Davidovich Kituashvili arrest | 1 |
Other | 9 |
Nothing | 21 |
Don’t know | 41 |
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.