One-quarter of Russians have watched the televised debates of candidates for the State Duma deputies.
MOSCOW, September 8, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing how many Russians have watched the televised debates of the candidates for the State Duma deputies; candidates of what parties they are interested in; what topics were largely covered in the debates.
Twenty-three percent of Russians report to have watched live the TV debates of State Duma candidates; a further 2% watched them in the Internet; 14% did not watch tape-delayed broadcasts but heard about the participants and topics raised. The audience of the televised debates is basically retired persons (47% of those aged 60 and over) rather than young respondents (11-13% of those aged 18-34). Generally, three-quarters of Russians have heard about the TV debates (72%).
What respondents remembered and liked are performances of parliamentary parties’ candidates: LDPR (50% of those who watched and those who are aware of the content; 18% liked them), United Russia (46% and 19%), CPRF (38% and 16%), and A Just Russia (30% and 12%).
Education drew wide discussions (14% of those who watched or are aware of the debates’ content), economy (11%), healthcare (9%), pensions (9%), population’s living standards (7%).
At the start of active pre-election campaign the interest towards TV debates of candidates for the State Duma deputies was higher than now. Today the percentage of those who will definitely watch live televised debates is 12% (19% in July); only 2% are planning to watch the debates in the Internet later (versus 8%, respectively). A further 30% could watch the debates under certain conditions (if they switch the channel and come across them or if nothing more interesting is broadcast at the same time). The share of those who definitely refuse to watch the TV debates has doubled (from 24% to 53%).
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on September 3-4, 2016; 1600 persons were surveyed in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage. 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 structured 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.
Televised debates of candidates for the State Duma deputies were launched. Did you watch these debates on TV or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||||
| Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and over | |
I watched these debates on TV | 23 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 23 | 47 | |
I watched these debates in the Internet | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
I did not watch these debates but I am aware of their content, participants and topics | 14 | 13 | 18 | 18 | 12 | 11 | |
I heard that there were debates but I know nothing about their content, participants and topics | 34 | 34 | 35 | 37 | 34 | 28 | |
This is the first time I hear about that | 25 | 37 | 30 | 25 | 27 | 12 | |
Don’t know | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | |
Can you specify the political parties debates of which you watched or heard about? (closed-ended question, any number of answers, % of those who watched the TV debates or are aware of their content) | ||
| Total respondents | |
LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) | 50 | |
“United Russia” | 46 | |
CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) | 38 | |
“A Just Russia” | 30 | |
“Yabloko” | 26 | |
“Russian Pensioners For Justice Party” | 21 | |
“Communists of Russia” | 17 | |
“Rodina” | 15 | |
“Russian Ecological Party "The Greens" | 15 | |
PARNAS (Party of People's Freedom) | 15 | |
Party of Growth | 14 | |
“Patriots of Russia” | 12 | |
"Civic Platform" | 10 | |
“Citizens’ Force” | 7 | |
Don’t know | 31 | |
Can you specify the political parties debates of which you liked? (closed-ended question, any number of answers % of those who watched the TV debates or are aware of their content) | ||
| Total respondents | |
“United Russia” | 19 | |
LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) | 18 | |
CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) | 16 | |
“A Just Russia” | 12 | |
“Russian Pensioners For Justice Party” | 5 | |
“Rodina” | 3 | |
Russian Ecological Party "The Greens" | 3 | |
“Yabloko” | 3 | |
“Communists of Russia” | 2 | |
Party of Growth | 2 | |
“Patriots of Russia” | 2 | |
PARNAS (Party of People's Freedom) | 1 | |
"Civic Platform" | 1 | |
“Citizens’ Force” | 0 | |
I did not like any party | 17 | |
Don’t know | 35 | |
What political topics’ discussions did you like in particular? | ||
| Total respondents | |
Education | 14 | |
Economy | 11 | |
Pensions | 9 | |
Healthcare | 9 | |
Population well-being / salaries | 7 | |
Foreign policy | 6 | |
Social sphere | 5 | |
Agriculture | 3 | |
Security | 2 | |
Housing and public utilities | 2 | |
Internal policy | 2 | |
Sport | 2 | |
Army | 2 | |
Inflation / price increase | 2 | |
Fighting corruption | 2 | |
International relations | 1 | |
Unemployment | 1 | |
Culture | 1 | |
Ecology | 1 | |
Housing | 1 | |
Loan services | 1 | |
Industry | 1 | |
Science | 1 | |
Roads | 1 | |
Food quality | 1 | |
Fighting terrorism | 1 | |
Other | 4 | |
All | 1 | |
None | 16 | |
Don’t know | 36 | |
Are you going to watch the televised debates in the near future or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| 30-31.07.2016 | 3-4.09.2016 | |
Yes, I am going to watch TV debates; I will try to find out the time and date of broadcast in advance | 19 | 12 | |
I am going to watch TV debates if I suddenly come across them when switching the channels; I will not look for them intentionally | 24 | 18 | |
I am going to watch TV debates if I suddenly come across them and only if there is nothing more interesting on TV at that moment (or till something interesting starts) | 23 | 12 | |
I will watch tape-delayed debates | 8 | 2 | |
I will not watch them even if I come across them | 24 | 53 | |
Don’t know | 2 | 3 | |
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.