MOSCOW, November 25, 2009. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing how many Russian watched the presidential address to the Federal Assembly, as well as their assessment of this address.
More than one-third of Russians expressed interest in President Dmitry Medvedev`s address (38%): 12% listened to him carefully, 26% learnt the basic ideas of his address from TV news (17 and 28% respectively a year ago). Forty-two percent of our fellow-citizens did not watch the presidential address; other 18% reported that they are not interested in politics at all.
Those who put attention to the presidential address most are supporters of CPRF party (22%), southerners (16%) and elderly citizens (21%). Those who got familiar with basic points of the address from the mass media are mainly adherents of Fair Russia and United Russia parties (35 and 30% respectively) and residents of the Volga District (34%). Most of those who expressed no interest are supporters of such parties as Yabloko, Pravoe Delo, and Patriots of Russia (56%), Siberians and Far East residents (48 and 49% respectively), as well as 18-24-year-old Russians (49%).
Every fifth Russian felt hope and inspiration after listening to the presidential address (19%). As a rule, they are supporters of United Russia and Fair Russia parties (27 and 24% respectively), as well as elderly respondents (28%). One-quarter of respondents (24%) think though the ideas and suggestions were right but they were expressed before and no real progress has been achieved: basically they are supporters of CPRF(33%), LDPR (36%) and Fair Russia (33%) parties, as well as respondents aged above 35 (25-28%). Only 3% of our fellow-citizens do not agree with most of ideas expressed by the president; and 4% of Russians feel no interest in it.
Russians consider overcoming unemployment (66%) and combating corruption (60%) to be the most important topics in the presidential address. These topics are followed by the issues dealing with development of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals (35%), modernization of industries (32%), providing housing for veterans and increase of pensions (31%). Respondents also mentioned such subjects as combating terrorism (27%), creating a healthy lifestyle (23%), development of science and inventions, strengthening country's defense (20% for each), development of innovation technologies (19%), school education reforming (18%), increase of energy efficiency, development of innovation technologies (14% for each), development of judicial system (12%), development of cultural infrastructure (11%), reducing the number of time zones, normalization of the situation in Northern Caucasus, charity support and development (10% for each), modernization of tax system, improvement of the work of law enforcement agencies (9% for each), and normalization of the situation in monocities (8%). According to Russians, the least important problems expressed by the president are development of nuclear energetics (6%), electoral system reforming (5%), and reducing the state regulation of economy (4%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted ...., 2009. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does notexceed 3.4 %.
Did you watch/listen to the presidential speech? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
| May 2004 | May 2005 | May 2006 | April 2007 | November 2008 | November 2009 |
Yes, I listened to the Presidential speech very attentively | 16 | 17 | 23 | 12 | 17 | 12 |
I did not listen to the presidential speech attentively; I learnt the basic ideas of the presidential address from TV news | 22 | 27 | 35 | 32 | 28 | 26 |
No, I did not watched the presidential address | 50 | 38 | 30 | 38 | 40 | 42 |
I am not interested in politics; I feel indifferent to it | 11 | 15 | 10 | 16 | 14 | 18 |
Hard to tell | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
In general, how would you assess the presidential address to the Federal Assembly? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||||
| May 2005 | May 2006 | April 2007 | November 2008 | November 2009 |
It evoked hope and inspiration in me | 27 | 33 | 24 | 20 | 19 |
The ideas and suggestions mentioned by the president were right, and they were expressed before, but no real progress has been made | 25 | 22 | 17 | 22 | 24 |
I do not agree with most of ideas expressed by the president | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Everything the president told about holds no interest for me | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
I did not hear about the address | 35 | 32 | 42 | 46 | 42 |
Hard to tell | 8 | 8 | 13 | 8 | 9 |
In your opinion, which of the following tasks mentioned by the president Dmitry Medvedev in his address to the Federal Assembly are the most important for Russia at present? (close-ended question, not more than seven answers) | |
Combating unemployment | 66 |
Combating corruption | 60 |
Development of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals | 35 |
Modernization of industries | 32 |
Providing housing for veterans, increase of pensions | 31 |
Combating terrorism | 27 |
Creating a healthy lifestyle | 23 |
Development of science and inventions | 20 |
Strengthening country's defense | 20 |
Development of innovation technologies | 19 |
School education reforming | 18 |
Increase of energy efficiency, transition to rational use of resources | 14 |
Development of information technologies and communications | 14 |
Development of judicial system | 12 |
Development of cultural infrastructure | 11 |
Reducing the number of time zones, abolishment of daylight saving time | 10 |
Charity support and development | 10 |
Normalization of Northern Caucasus situation | 10 |
Modernization of tax system | 9 |
Improvement of work of law enforcement agencies/criminal law | 9 |
Normalization of situation in monocities | 8 |
Development of nuclear energetics | 6 |
Electoral system reforming | 5 |
Reducing the state regulation of economy | 4 |
hard to tell | 11 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!