Results of our studies

IN BRIEF

The public assessment of the situation in the country and regions has stabilized. On the contrary, the situation in personal life was evaluated worse.

MOSCOWOctober 27, 2010. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing how Russians assess the situation in the country, region, and their settlement, their surrounding and life. The evaluation is based on certain indicators.

Is the situation in country stabilizing? The index of assessment of the situation in the country has been decreasing during summertime (from 38 percentage points in June to 27 in August). In autumn this figure stabilized and reached 29 points in October. It was possible due to the dominating share of respondents who are confident that the things are going well in the country (52%), as well as the stable number of those who are pessimistic (32-33%).

The situation in the country is assessed positively by mainly respondents with high level of income: 27% assess it positively, 53% - normal. Respondents with low level of income say the situation is bad or even worse (55%).

 

The index of assessment of the situation in regions is relatively stable (23-24 percentage points during autumn). To compare, in August (fire season) this indicator made up only 17 points. The stability is due to the increased number of respondents who are confident that the situation in their regions is normal (from 46% in August to 51% in October). Those who think the situation is normal are residents of North Western District (67%) and rarer - residents of North Caucasus (29%).

 

The assessment of the situation in the settlement showed the opposite trend. It plummeted again in October back to the June points (from 23 to 18). That was due to the increase in the share of those who negatively assess the situation in their cities (from 35 to 39%).  They are mainly rural area residents (44%).

 

For the first time over the year there was recorded a considerable fall in the evaluation of the situation in surrounding.  The indicator was down 11 points (from 64 to 53) at the expense of the decrease in the share of those respondents who think that everything in the lives of their friends and relatives is normal (from 62 to 57%) and simultaneously at the expense of the increase of the number of respondents with negative evaluation (from 15 to 21%). The situation seems to be normal and positive for the young respondents (60 and 24% respectively); at the same time, those of the pre-retirement and retirement age assess the situation negatively (25%).

 

The index of evaluation of personal life has also decreased considerably. It fell down from 60 to 54 points over the month due to the switch to negative evaluation. In particular, the number of those who regard their lives as being normal has decreased (from 59 to 56%), whereas the number of those who give negative evaluation has increased (from 18 to 21%). At the same time, those with high level of income evaluate their lives positively (48%), unlike those with low level of income who assess their situation negatively (55%).

 

*Evaluation index in the country/region/settlement/surrounding/life is calculated as a difference between positive and negative evaluations. The higher the meaning of the index is, the better Russians` evaluations of the situation are.

 

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on October 9-10, 2010. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

How would you assess the situation in the country in general? (close-ended question, one answer)

 

III.10

IV.10

V.10

VI.10

VII.10

VIII.10

XI.10

X.10

Perfect

1

0

2

2

1

2

1

1

Good

7

11

10

14

9

9

8

8

Normal

50

52

51

49

54

50

52

52

Bad

31

28

27

25

25

28

28

27

Awful

4

3

4

2

4

5

5

5

Hard to tell

7

6

7

9

7

6

7

7

Index (difference between negative and positive assessments)

23

32

32

38

35

27

28

29

How would you assess the situation in the region in general? (close-ended question, one answer)

 

III.10

IV.10

V.10

VI.10

VII.10

VIII.10

XI.10

X.10

Perfect

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

1

Good

6

9

9

12

9

9

8

6

Normal

46

46

47

45

50

46

50

51

Bad

33

33

30

29

29

34

31

29

Awful

6

5

6

5

4

5

4

6

Hard to tell

7

6

7

8

6

6

7

6

Index (difference between negative and positive assessments)

14

18

21

25

27

17

24

23

How would you assess the situation in your settlement in general? (close-ended question, one answer)

 

III.10

IV.10

V.10

VI.10

VII.10

VIII.10

XI.10

X.10

Perfect

0

1

3

2

1

1

1

1

Good

8

10

11

14

10

9

7

7

Normal

44

44

43

43

51

45

50

49

Bad

34

34

30

30

29

34

29

31

Awful

9

7

10

6

6

7

6

8

Hard to tell

5

4

4

5

3

5

6

5

Index (difference between negative and positive assessments)

9

14

17

23

27

15

23

18

How would you assess the situation in your environment in general? (close-ended question, one answer)

 

III.10

IV.10

V.10

VI.10

VII.10

VIII.10

XI.10

X.10

Perfect

3

2

3

4

3

2

2

2

Good

14

16

16

17

15

16

15

15

Normal

56

58

58

55

59

58

62

57

Bad

19

17

16

16

16

15

14

18

Awful

2

1

2

2

2

3

1

3

Hard to tell

7

6

5

7

5

6

5

7

Index (difference between negative and positive assessments)

52

58

59

58

59

58

64

53

How would you assess the situation in your life in general? (close-ended question, one answer)

 

III.10

IV.10

V.10

VI.10

VII.10

VIII.10

XI.10

X.10

Perfect

4

3

3

5

3

4

3

3

Good

16

19

18

20

16

17

16

16

Normal

55

55

56

52

58

54

59

56

Bad

18

18

17

17

16

17

16

18

Awful

2

1

2

2

3

2

2

3

Hard to tell

5

4

4

4

4

5

4

3

Index (difference between negative and positive assessments)

55

58

58

58

58

56

60

54

 

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