The level of patriotism in Russia is high. More than half of respondents would support sending relatives to war to defend the country in case of war.  

MOSCOW, June 22, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing the level of patriotism among Russians. 

The Russian perceptions of the country have become more positive over the recent years: more Russians express such feelings as hope (36%; 29% in 2014), respect (32%; 27% earlier), love (24%; 16% earlier), trust (18%, 8% earlier). At the same time, distrust (from 14% to 4%), dislikes (from 11% to less than 1%) and skepsis (from 8% to 1%) are mentioned rarely.

The patriotism index* has weakened its positions in 2016 (62 p.; in a range from -100 to 100), after its increase in October 2014 (up to 72 p.). However, the general level of patriotism is high in the country: 80% of Russians share patriotic feelings.

A sense of duty is very strong among Russians: 65% would support the decision of their relatives to go to the war if needed (including 49% of those who could go directly to the front line). Most of respondents (56%) would provide financial assistance: 39% would give a quarter of their salaries to the state as a war loan; a further 17% would give a lesser amount of money.

The Index of patriotism shows the level of patriotism in Russia. The higher the value of Index is, the higher the level of patriotism is. The index is based on the question “Do you perceive yourself as Russian patriot?” and designed subtracting the negative responses from the positive responses. The index is measured in points and can fluctuate between -100 and 100.

The VCIOM opinion polls took place on June 18-19, in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample size involved 1600 persons. The survey was 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. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work can introduce bias into the survey. 

* The question was “Do you count yourself Russia’s patriot?”

 ** The question was “How would you describe yourself –are you a patriot of your country or not?”

Note: Using materials from the websites 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.