Russians would like to see an eccentric billionaire as president of the U.S. rather than U.S. First Lady known for her anti-Russian rhetoric.
MOSCOW, August 1, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing how Russians assess Donald Trump, candidate for U.S. president, whether they expect any improvements in Russia-U.S. relations in case Trump or Hillary Clinton wins the elections.
Forty-one percent of Russians are interested in the American electoral campaign: in the past fewer Russians kept track of the election process (36% in 2008). More than half of Russians (59%) strengthen the importance of the outcome of these elections for Russia.
Forty percent of respondents are aware of who Donald Trump (Republican Party candidate) is. Most of them know that he is a billionaire (21%). Only 6% know for sure that he is running for the U.S. president. Hillary Clinton (Democratic Party candidate) is known to 59% of respondents; however most of them still remember her being U.S. First Lady (26%) rather than a presidential candidate (19%).
Trump’s victory is expected to improve the bilateral relations (34%) or at least to preserve the status quo (36%), whereas the Clinton’s presidency may make the U.S. - Russia relationships more complicated, according to the majority of respondents (53%).
The VCIOM survey was carried out on July 9-10, 2016 in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample size involved 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 sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work can introduce bias into the survey.
The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign is in progress. Are you keeping track of it? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| VIII.2004 | VI.2008 | VII.2016 |
Yes, very attentively | 5 | 4 | 11 |
Yes, from time to time | 31 | 32 | 30 |
No | 60 | 61 | 58 |
Don't know | 4 | 3 | 1 |
In your opinion, is the outcome of the U.S. presidential election important for Russia? (closed-ended question, one answer %) | ||
| 15-16.VI.2008 | 9-10.VII.2016 |
Yes, very important | 15 | 30 |
Rather important | 36 | 29 |
Rather not important | 22 | 17 |
Not at all important | 9 | 18 |
Don't know | 18 | 6 |
Do you know anything about Donald Trump and his activities? Who is he; what is he famous for? | |
| Total respondents |
American billionaire/businessman | 21 |
American political figure | 7 |
He is running for U.S. president | 6 |
Personal qualities | 5 |
Entertainer | 1 |
His appearance | 0 |
Author of books | 0 |
Organizer of beauty contests | 0 |
Thief/corrupt person | 0 |
Philanthropist | 0 |
He served in Vietnam | 0 |
I know nothing about him | 60 |
Don't know | 8 |
Do you know anything about Hillary Clinton and her activities? Who is she; what is she famous for? | |
| Total respondents |
Former U.S. First lady | 26 |
She is running for U.S. president | 19 |
American political figure | 9 |
U.S. Secretary of State | 3 |
American woman | 2 |
She is negative about Russia | 2 |
Negative associations | 1 |
Public figure | 0 |
Other | 3 |
I know nothing about her | 41 |
Don't know | 9 |
In your opinion, how may the election of Donald Trump affect Russia-U.S. relationships? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those who heard about Donald Trump) | |||||||
| Total respondents | A Just Russia party | Supporters of LDPR | Supporters of CPRF | Supporters of United Russia party | Supporters of non-parliamentary parties | I would not take part in elections |
Relationships will get better | 34 | 37 | 34 | 48 | 36 | 40 | 22 |
Relationships will get worse | 12 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 21 |
Nothing will change | 36 | 37 | 46 | 33 | 32 | 42 | 32 |
Don’t know | 18 | 16 | 8 | 15 | 20 | 12 | 25 |
How may the election of Hillary Clinton affect Russia-U.S. relationships? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those who heard about Hillary Clinton) | ||||||||
| Total respondents | A Just Russia party | Supporters of LDPR | Supporters of CPRF | Supporters of United Russia party | Supporters of non-parliamentary parties | I would not take part in elections | |
Relationships will get better | 6 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | |
Relationships will get worse | 53 | 69 | 52 | 57 | 53 | 57 | 43 | |
Nothing will change | 29 | 22 | 32 | 29 | 29 | 22 | 32 | |
Don’t know | 13 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 20 | |
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.