MOSCOW, 25 August 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey about improvements in life globally and domestically.
Hoping for the government
Today more than half of Russians are confident that the current Russian government will be able to achieve improvements in the country (54%). Every fifth respondent is absolutely confident (20% vs. 4% in 2012). Ten years ago (in 2012) this percentage was 1.7-fold lower, despite a more favorable situation, only one-third of Russians gave positive answers (32%). A quarter of respondents hold the opposite viewpoint and do not expect the government to be able to improve the situation in the country (27%). A further 14% consider both negative and positive scenarios are possible; in ten years this percentage has more than halved (39% in 2012). Thus, uncertainty was replaced with a favorable scenario.
International relations and economy: expectations of Russians
Despite the attempts of the Western countries to “cancel” Russia, every second respondent expects improvements in international relations within the next six months (47%). This share has almost doubled over the recent two decades (26% in 2002). The opposite opinion is less popular with Russians – 15% think that Russia’s global standing will likely deteriorate. A third of Russians are confident that the Russia’s standing will not change (31%), which is twice as high compared to 2002 (64%).
Public expectations regarding economic future are less optimistic. “The economic situation will not change within the next six months” is a dominant viewpoint (42%). At the same time, opinions are equally spit: 24% expect improvements in the economic situation; 26%, deterioration.
August 19, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8373; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0206; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1515. Calculations based on corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.
** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.
***RR: RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 19 August, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews using a stratified random sample based on a complete list of Russian mobile phone numbers. The data were weighted according to social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Let’s change the topic. In your opinion, will the current Russian government be able to achieve improvements domestically soon? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2012* | 2022 |
Definitely yes | 4 | 20 |
Likely yes | 28 | 34 |
Maybe yes, maybe no | 39 | 14 |
Likely no | 19 | 16 |
Definitely no | 6 | 11 |
Don’t know | 4 | 5 |
Let’s change the topic. In your opinion, will the current Russian government be able to achieve improvements domestically soon? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
| Total | Men | Women | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Definitely yes | 20 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 19 | 26 | 21 |
Likely yes | 34 | 29 | 39 | 34 | 28 | 34 | 36 | 37 |
Maybe yes, maybe no | 14 | 14 | 15 | 22 | 16 | 18 | 10 | 13 |
Likely no | 16 | 18 | 13 | 15 | 22 | 12 | 15 | 15 |
Definitely no | 11 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
Don’t know | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
In your opinion, how will the Russia’s global standing change within the next six months: improve, deteriorate or not change? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2002* | 2022 |
Improve | 26 | 47 |
Not change | 64 | 31 |
Deteriorate | 10 | 15 |
Don’t know | 0 | 7 |
In your opinion, how will the Russia’s global standing change within the next six months: improve, deteriorate or not change? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) |
| |||||
| Total | Active TV viewers | Active users of Internet and TV | Active Internet users | Not using Internet and TV | |
Improve | 47 | 58 | 51 | 35 | 36 | |
Not change | 31 | 29 | 31 | 30 | 42 | |
Deteriorate | 15 | 4 | 9 | 29 | 8 | |
Don’t know | 7 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 14 | |
In your opinion, how will the Russia’s global standing change within the next six months: improve, deteriorate or not change? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) |
| |||||
| Total | Active TV viewers | Active users of Internet and TV | Active Internet users | Not using Internet and TV | |
Improve | 24 | 36 | 23 | 19 | 33 | |
Not change | 42 | 42 | 49 | 32 | 42 | |
Deteriorate | 26 | 11 | 21 | 43 | 17 | |
Don’t know | 8 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 8 | |
*household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage sample with socio-demographic quotas; sample representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over based on settlement type, gender, age, education, and federal district. Sample size: 1,600.