Pain of the USSR loss has not remitted.
MOSCOW, March 2, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the results of the survey describing the Russian assessments of the Mikhail Gorbachev’s activity as a Soviet leader.
Most of Russians consider Mikhail Gorbachev as a leader guided by the interests of the citizens. Forty-six percent of respondents are confident that he took care of the country but he made a miscount. Every tenth (12%) is confident that he was a brave person, he was not afraid of taking responsibility and conducting essential reforms, and he did his best.
The basic Gorbachev’s achievement was putting an end to the Cold War (6%) and introducing democratic freedoms (5%). However, almost every second (47%) believes that he did not do anything good to the country; and every third (34%) was undecided.
At the same time, over the recent years, the assessments of the Gorbachev’s political activity have become more radical. The share of those who think that he is criminal who maliciously caused the collapse of the Great Power has considerably increased (from 16% in 2010 to 24% in 2016). Those who think so are mainly supporters of CPRF (43%), men (30%), Russians aged 45-59 (29%) and rarely supporters of A Just Russia party (15%), women (19%) and Russians aged 18-24 (13%).
Recalling Gorbachev, the first thing that came to the Russian mind is the collapse of the USSR (36%). Negative consequences of his policies involve country’s economic and military decline (10%), Perestroika initiative (5%, et cet. Interestingly, anti-alcohol initiative is assessed both in a negative (5%) and in a positive way (2%).
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on February 20-21, 2016. A total of 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 settlements in 46 regions and republics of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.
In your opinion, Gorbachev is …. (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| 2010 | 2013 | 2016 |
Criminal; he maliciously led to the collapse of the Great power | 16 | 25 | 24 |
Politician who thought of the country but committed several tactical mistakes that led to problems and shock | 51 | 47 | 46 |
Brave person who was not afraid of taking responsibility and conducting the reforms needed for the country; he did the best possible job | 12 | 14 | 12 |
Other | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Don’t know | 18 | 11 | 16 |
The Gorbachev’s rule is assessed in an ambiguous way. Can you remember the good things Gorbachev did for the country? (open-ended question, any number of answers; answers of at least 1% of respondents) | ||
| 2011 | 2016 |
He put an end to the Cold War | 5 | 6 |
He introduced democratic freedoms | 10 | 5 |
He started Perestroika | 4 | 2 |
He initiated an anti-alcohol campaign | 4 | 2 |
He gave a possibility to run a business, to earn money | 2 | 1 |
USSR collapse | 0 | 1 |
He withdrew the troops from Afghanistan | 2 | 1 |
Products appeared in the magazines during his term | 0 | 1 |
Order and stability in the country | 0 | 1 |
Nothing | 4 | 47 |
Other | 2 | 4 |
Don’t know | 73 | 34 |
What are the bad things that Mikhail Gorbachev did for the country? (open-ended question, any number of answers; answers of at least 1% of respondents) | ||
| 2011 | 2016 |
USSR collapse | 31 | 36 |
He led the country to the decadence (economy, army, society, et cet.) | 8 | 10 |
He introduced an anti-alcohol campaign | 7 | 5 |
He started Perestroika | 4 | 5 |
He sold the country to the West | 2 | 5 |
He introduced a coupon system (goods’ deficit) | 3 | 2 |
He did not accomplish any undertaking he made | 2 | 1 |
Poor population | 0 | 1 |
Corruption / crime / banditism | 0 | 1 |
Disorder in the country | 3 | 1 |
Other | 2 | 3 |
None | 0 | 9 |
Don’t know | 51 | 32 |
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.