Russians see improvements in the Russian Armed Forces, especially in weapons upgrade. Approval ratings for the Russian army are close to 90%.
MOSCOW, December 26, 2018. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of a study devoted to army and society.
Over the recent seven years the Russian assessments of the situation in the army have considerably improved: today 61% view the situation as “good” or “very good” (vs 11% in 2013); only 6% view it as “bad” or “very bad” (vs 29%, respectively).
Over half of Russians (58%) see improvements in the Armed Forces; 42% say that over the recent two or three years the army capability (defense equipment and weapons) has enhanced. Deterioration is reported by 6% of respondents.
Forty-four percent of respondents say they have high or rather high level of awareness of the situation in the army; 54% assess the levels as “low” or “very low”. Of those who are well informed, the share of persons who report improvements in the situation is much bigger than among those who know little about the situation.
Over the past six years the share of respondents who would like their relatives to serve in the army has increased from 52% to 65%. The basic reason behind draft evasion for 44% of respondents is their fear of abuse of new conscripts by older soldiers; a further 41% are afraid of intense physical exercise.
The levels of approvals for the Russian army have increased from 52% to 87% over six years. Two-thirds of Russians (66%) consider that Russia is threatened by other countries. At the same time, 92% are confident that the army is capable of protecting Russians against such threats (only 66% five years ago).
Detailed results are available in PPT file
Surveys took place in November and December 2018: daily nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik survey (1,600 respondents); monthly nationwide VCIOM-Express (1,200 respondents); nationwide survey of Russian population as part of “Trust in the Russian Armed Forces” Research Work (Russian officers; conscripts; servicemen families’ members; pre-conscription age young men (aged 16-18)).
Do you generally approve or disapprove of the Russian Army performance? (closed-ended question, one answer, %, those undecided are not shown) | |||||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Approvals | 52 | 58 | 65 | 75 | 83 | 88 | 87 |
Disapprovals | 31 | 28 | 22 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 5 |
How would you assess the current situation in the Russian army? (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||||||
| 2011 | 2013 | II.2014 | IV.2014 | 2015 | 2017 | 2018 |
Very good/ good | 13 | 16 | 24 | 37 | 49 | 62 | 61 |
Average | 44 | 46 | 54 | 49 | 40 | 24 | 27 |
Bad/Very bad | 29 | 31 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 6 |
Don’t know | 14 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
In your opinion, is the Russian army capable of protecting Russia against threats coming from other countries? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2017 | 2018 |
Definitely yes | 21 | 32 | 57 | 55 |
Rather yes | 45 | 54 | 36 | 37 |
Rather not | 21 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
Definitely not | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Don’t know | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
Would you like your son/brother/husband/close relative to serve in the army today? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||
| 2012 | 2014 | 2015 | 2017 | 2018 |
Rather yes | 52 | 53 | 47 | 68 | 65 |
Rather not | 40 | 41 | 47 | 24 | 26 |
Don’t know | 8 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
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!