Both public and personal protest potential of Russians keep stagnating. Not more than one-third part of Russians considers mass protest possible to happen in their areas of residence. Less than 20% of Russians would personally take part in such actions.

MOSCOW, August 23, 2012. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing how possible Russians think protest actions are, as well as how many respondents are ready to participate in them.

Over the recent months the public protest potential index * has been fluctuating within 33-35 percentage points (April-July). Currently the index equals 34 points. Twenty-eight percent of Russians consider mass protests possible, whereas 68% believe that it is hardly possible.

The monthly average values of personal protest potential index* have slight fluctuations (April-July– 25-28 points). Today the index has stood at 27 points.  Nineteen percent of respondents are ready to take personal part in protest actions; 77% - not.

*Public protest potential index shows if mass protests are possible, according to Russians. The higher the value of the index is, the more Russians are confident that mass protests are possible in their place of residence. The index is based on the question: “In your opinion, are mass protests against falling living standards possible in your place of residence (city/rural area)? If the answer is “quite possible”, the coefficient is 0.9; “hardly possible” – 0.1; undecided – 0.5. The index is measured in points and can vary from 10 to 90.

**Personal protest potential index shows the readiness of Russians to participate in mass protests. The higher the value of the index is, the more respondents are ready to participate in protests actions. The index is based on the question:  “If mass protests against falling living standards happen in your place of residence (city/rural area), will you personally support the actions?” If the answer is “likely to support”, the coefficient is 0.9: “unlikely to support” – 0.1; undecided – 0.5. The index is measured in points and can vary from 10 to 90.

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on August 18-19, 2012. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

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!