Russians still give three out of five points to the Russian government assessing its work. Russians do not see much difference between the current cabinet of ministers and the previous one.

MOSCOW, October 4, 2012. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning how Russians assess the performance of the Russian government headed by Dmitry Medvedev.

Four months after the new government was established Russians give it about three out of five points (3.19). The work of the government headed by Evgeny Primakov was assessed in the same way five months after it started to work (3.22). Those who give higher assessments to the Medvedev`s government are those respondents who approve of his work (3.54), supporters of United Russia party (3.59), young and retired respondents (3.27 и 3.2, respectively), and metropolitan and rural area residents (3.26-3.27). Those who are least satisfied with the performance of the new government are middle-aged respondents (3.02) and supporters of CPRF party (2.76).

The quality of work of the new government meets the expectations of two-thirds of respondents (65%). Those who think that the cabinet did not exceed their expectations are in the minority (5%). They are basically young respodnents (8%) and metropolitan residents (10%). The share of those who are disappointed in the prime minister and his team has increased (from 17 to 21%); they are mostly respondents aged above 35 (22-24%) who do not use the Internet (23%), residents of rural area, small cities and million cities (22-24%).

According to Russians, the government that was capable of changing the situation in the country was the government of Putin in its mid-term (15 points). As to the Medvedev`s cabinet, fewer Russians believe it can change the situation for the better (8 points). The Kasianov`s cabinet was assessed by Russians in the same way when it started to work (7); however, the number of those who were optimistic decreased by the end of its term (- 6). The work of the Fradkov`s cabinet is assessed most skeptically (-7). The typical portrait of respondent who believes in the success of the Medvedev`s Cabinet is a person younger than 35 (35%) using the Internet from time to time (34%). On the contrary, middle-aged Russians (28%) and active Internet users (27%) do not expect any changes to happen.

Respondents do not see any substantial difference between the work of the Medvedev`s cabinet and the previous government (76%). Eleven percent of respondents are confident that new ministers work worse than their predessoros; 6% think that the current government works better.

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on September 15-16, 2012. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

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!