Russian perception of the U.S. has changed, however the relations between the two countries have worsened.

MOSCOW, February 25, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the following topics: how Russians perceive the U.S. today; how they assess the U.S.-Russia relations; what brings those countries together and what sets them apart.

Today more than half of Russians perceive the United States of America positively (55%, autumn 2012 - 53%). The share of those who have negative perceptions of America is 30% (earlier – 32%).  Following the decrease from 26 to 20 points in 2011-2012 the index value has reached 25 points again. Those who treat the U.S. positively are basically supporters of the United Russia party (61%), young Russians (62%), residents of big cities (66%); those who perceive the country negatively are CPRF adherents (42%), elderly respondents (42%), Muscovites and St. Petersburgians (40%).

At the same time, the public assessments of Russian-American relations look less positive than before: the share of those who positively assess the relations between the two countries has decreased from 53% to 39% (31% assess the relations as normal; 5% - as good; 3% - as friendly). Simultaneously, the share of those who negatively assess the bilateral relations has increased from 42 to 56% (35% - as cool; 17% - as tense; 4% - as hostile). The index has gone down from 49 to 43.

Asked about what brings Russia and the U.S. together, most of Russians cite trade and economic relations (9%). Other factors are mentioned rarer: politics (4%), status of major powers (3%), culture (3%), peacekeeping (2%), joint efforts against terrorism (2%).   According to 5% of Russians, one thing that brings the two countries together is that many Russians are residing now in the U.S. At the same time, 8% respondents believe that Russia and the U.S. have nothing to share; 60% fail to name anything that brings these countries together.

As to factors that separate Russia from the U.S., most of respondents report aggressive foreign policy of the U.S. (10%) and different political views (9%). Respondents also mention struggle for world leadership (6%), mentality (5%), arms race (4%), and hostility towards Russia (4%). Other 5% believe that one of the factors that affect the relations is the adoption of new laws such as the Magnitsky law. Russians also mentioned different living standards (3%), economic peculiarities (2%) and et cet.

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on February 9-10, 2013. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

The Index of Attitudes towards the U.S. shows how Russians treat the United States today. The higher the value of Index is, the better Russians treat the U.S. The Index is based on the question “What is your current attitude toward the U.S.? The index is calculated as the difference between the positive answers (“good”, “rather good”) and negative answers (“rather bad”, “bad”). The index is measured in points and can have percentage value between -100 and 100. 

The index of US-Russia relations` assessment shows how Russians assess the relations between Russia and the U.S. The higher the value of index is, the higher Russians assess the bilateral relations. The index is based on the question: “How would you assess the current relations between Russia and the United States of America?”. The index is calculated as the sum of answers multiplied by the corresponding coefficients: answer “friendly” – by 1; answer “good, good neighboring” – by 0.8; answer “normal, tranquil” – by 0.6; answer “cool” – by 0.4; answer “tense” – by 0.2; answer “hostile” - by 0.01. The index is measured in points and can have percentage value between 0 and 100.

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