Russians believe that Russia is an undisputable world leader. The factors that determines its strength have changed: more Russians pay attention to the growth of the well-being of citizens rather than the military and foreign policy successes.
MOSCOW, June 10, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing the role of Russia in the international arena, according to Russian opinions.
Russian citizens give high rating to the position of Russia in the international arena: the share of those who believe that Russia’s influence is essential makes up 75% today: it has slightly changed after hitting the 2014 maximum levels – 82% (after Crimea’s incorporation), however it is still higher than the 2008 record (58%).
Russians mention the priority of Russia’s global objectives such as its return to superpower status (38%) and its strive to be one of ten or fifteen most prosperous countries (40%). Few are satisfied with the status of a leader in the post-Soviet space (9%), and only 7% believe that none of the above-mentioned objectives is important (the share of such respondents is fluctuating between 5-9% across all social and demographic groups).
Every fourth Russian (26% - historical maximum) considers that today Russia is one of the world leading powers. Forty-nine percent of respondents think that the country will soon achieve this status; 18% have doubts (compared to the sample mean, this share is much higher among non-parliamentary parties’ supporters (37%)).
At the same time, such prerequisites for being a leading power as a highly developed economy (52% in 2014) and a strong army (42%) are less important at the moment (37% and 26%, respectively) ; what is essential for Russians today is the levels of financial well-being of citizens (38% in 2016, compared to 25% in 2014).
The VCIOM opinion polls were conducted on June 4-5, 2016, in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample size was 1600 persons. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage; the sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement. 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 formalized face-to-face interviews. In addition to the sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.
In your opinion, what influence does Russia have in international affairs? (closed-ended question, one answer,) | |||
| 2008 | 2014 | 2016 |
Very strong | 14 | 25 | 28 |
Quite strong | 44 | 57 | 47 |
Rather weak | 18 | 10 | 11 |
Almost no influence | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Don’t know | 21 | 5 | 7 |
In your opinion, what should Russia pursue in the XXI century? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||||||
| 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2008 | 2010 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 |
To bring back the status as a superpower that the USSR had | 34 | 34 | 34 | 37 | 33 | 37 | 42 | 38 |
To be one of ten or fifteen highly developed countries | 35 | 38 | 47 | 45 | 42 | 44 | 41 | 40 |
To be a leader in the post-Soviet space | 16 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
No global goals should be pursued | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 7 |
Don’t know | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
In your opinion, will Russia be able to be a strong power in fifteen or twenty years? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||||||
| 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2008 | 2010 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 |
Likely yes | 40 | 33 | 46 | 50 | 36 | 41 | 54 | 49 |
Likely no | 36 | 41 | 31 | 19 | 30 | 39 | 18 | 18 |
It is now | 12 | 13 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 10 | 19 | 26 |
Don’t know | 12 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 7 |
What should Russia achieve to be a great power? (closed-ended question, not more than two answers, %) | |||||||
| 2003 | 2007 | 2008 | 2010 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 |
To provide high living standards to citizens | 32 | 36 | 30 | 31 | 33 | 25 | 38 |
To have strong economy | 54 | 55 | 53 | 50 | 53 | 52 | 37 |
To have strong armed forces | 31 | 24 | 35 | 26 | 35 | 42 | 26 |
To develop science, to introduce new cutting-edge technologies | 0 | 20 | 18 | 22 | 19 | 20 | 19 |
To restore high standards of Russian culture and national spirit | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 12 |
To become world’s top policy-maker able to solve international conflicts | 10 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 11 |
To respect democratic rights and freedoms declared in the world | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 9 |
To become a “civilization” bridge between Europe and Asia, between the developed countries and the “third” countries | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 |
To get a control over the countries that were part of Russia’s or the USSR territory | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
To be the leading country in the energy sector | 0 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Don’t know | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
In your opinion, what impedes Russia from being one of the leading countries of the world? (closed-ended question, not more than two answers, %) | ||||||
| 2007 | 2008 | 2010 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 |
Lagging behind economically developed countries | 49 | 44 | 49 | 47 | 42 | 29 |
Resistance of the Western countries | 12 | 19 | 14 | 11 | 37 | 29 |
Lack of national identity | 17 | 16 | 17 | 20 | 14 | 15 |
Russian political instability | 19 | 11 | 15 | 16 | 11 | 15 |
Human qualities of Russians | 10 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 12 | 14 |
Inter-ethnic conflicts within Russia | 11 | 15 | 10 | 14 | 9 | 12 |
Vast territory and severe climate over its biggest part | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
Lagging behind developed countries in terms of democracy | 13 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 8 | 7 |
Nothing impedes | 6 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 11 |
Don’t know | 9 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
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.