MOSCOW, May 22, 2009. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the information on the level of interest that Russians exhibited regarding income declarations recently disclosed; whose declarations they are most interested in; whether they trust the information given in the declarations, and whether they think the declarations are necessary to be published in the media.
13% of Russians are interested in seeing the declarations provided by top state officials (due to the initiative of the President Dmitry Medvedev). Thirty-four per cent of respondents obtained the information about it from the media, from friends and relatives. However, more than half of Russians (53%) do not know anything about it.
Those who said they have already read several declarations are mostly Democrats (27%) and "Fair Russia" party supporters (22%), as well as Russians with high education (19%). The Democrats electorate (55%) and respondents with secondary special, higher and incomplete higher education (36-39%) more often than others mention that they first heard about it from the mass media, friends and relatives. And finally, Russians with elementary level of education mainly report that they do not know anything about the declarations of income (68%).
The declaration that Russians are most interested in is the declaration of income of the President Dmitry Medvedev (16% of respondents said that). Less number of people (13%) report that the declaration of the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attracted their attention most. Other declarations are less mentioned by Russians: Zhirinovsky - 4%; Luzhkov and Zyuganov - 2% for each; Mironov, Ipatov, Chubais, Matvienko, Baturina - 1% for each. Three per cent of respondents said they are not interested in the officials` declarations of income at all; other 3% said that there is no such kind of declarations. However, 64% were undecided.
The majority of those who saw the property and income declarations do not trust the information they provide (70%). Most of them are CPRF adherents (85%), metropolitan and big cities residents (74-77%), and respondents with low level of income (73%). Nevertheless, 17% of respondents consider the declarations of income as trustworthy: most of them are "United Russia" party adherents (20%), middle-sized cities residents (21%) and respondents with high level of income (28%).
The lack of interest to the incomes of other people is the key reason why Russians did not read the declarations (34%). Thirty per cent of respondents said that they did not know where they could get such kind of information, other 29% refused to read the declarations because they are convinced that the information the declarations provide is unreliable. There are also Russians who blame the format of data which is hard to be perceived, but such answers are rare.
Those who point out the lack of interest to other people` incomes, as well as inconvenient format of declarations (43% and 8% respectively) are first of all Russians with low level of income. Respondents with secondary special, higher and incomplete higher education tend not to trust the data (33-36%).
More than half of Russians (57%) think that the data should be published in the mass media (30% - "certainly necessary", 27% - "rather necessary"). Most of them are supporters of Democrats (72%) and middle-sized, small cities and rural area residents (58%). The same point of view is shared by 30% of Russians convinced that there is no need for publishing the data about the incomes of state officials (21% - "rather no", 9% - "certainly no"). Those who express such opinion are basically supporters of CPRF and LDPR parties (35% and 38% respectively), as well as metropolitan and big cities residents (33-34%).
The initiative Russian opinion poll was conducted on May 9-10, 2009. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
On the initiative of the Presidents Dmitry Medvedev all Russian top officials submitted income and property declarations this year. Do you know anything about that? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||||
| Total respondents | Education | |||
Elementary, or lower, incomplete secondary education
| Secondary (school, technical college) | Secondary special (college) | Incomplete higher (not less than 3 years), higher | ||
Yes, I am well informed about it and have already read some of the declarations | 13 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 19 |
I have heard something about it from the mass media, friends and relatives, but I did not see the declarations myself | 34 | 23 | 30 | 39 | 36 |
No, I do not know anything about it and I did not read any documents | 53 | 68 | 62 | 46 | 44 |
hard to tell | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
If you are familiar with the content of officials` declarations of income, which declarations were you interested most? (open-ended question, any number of answers, % of those who saw the declarations) | |
Medvedev | 16 |
Putin | 13 |
Zhirinovsky | 4 |
Luzhkov | 2 |
Zyuganov | 2 |
Mironov | 1 |
Ipatov | 1 |
Chubais | 1 |
Matvienko | 1 |
Baturina | 1 |
no one | 3 |
all officials and deputies | 3 |
other | 5 |
hard to tell | 64 |
Do you trust the data in the income and property declarations provided by Russian officials? | ||||
| Total respondents | Financial state self-assessment | ||
Very good, good | Average | Bad, very bad | ||
rather yes | 17 | 28 | 16 | 17 |
rather no | 70 | 60 | 69 | 73 |
hard to tell | 13 | 12 | 15 | 10 |
If you have not seen state officials` declarations of income, then why? (close-ended question, not more than two answers, % of those who have not seen the declarations) | |||||
| Total respondents | Education | |||
Elementary, or lower, incomplete secondary education
| Secondary (school, technical college) | Secondary special (college) | Incomplete higher (not less than 3 years), higher | ||
I am not interested in other people` declarations | 34 | 43 | 38 | 27 | 35 |
I do not trust the declarations; they provide unreliable information | 29 | 15 | 26 | 36 | 33 |
the declarations were not widely published; I did not know where I could have read them | 30 | 25 | 32 | 30 | 27 |
other | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
hard to tell | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
In your opinion, do the data about property and income of state officials need to be published in the mass media? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Type of settlement | ||||
Moscow & Saint Petersburg | More than 500thousand inhabitants | 100-500thousand | Less than 100thousand | Rural area | ||
certainly yes | 30 | 17 | 29 | 33 | 30 | 32 |
rather yes | 27 | 30 | 26 | 25 | 28 | 26 |
rather no | 21 | 24 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
certainly no | 9 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 8 |
hard to tell | 13 | 19 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 12 |
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!