MOSCOW, 1 February 2023. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey about the opinions of the inhabitants of Volgograd on the renaming of Volgograd. The survey is commissioned by the Social Research Expert Institute (EISI).
Due to the anniversary of the Battle
of Stalingrad, a question of changing the name of Volgograd back to Stalingrad has recently been widely discussed. The survey findings show that the residents of the city are unlikely to support the initiative (67%).
They believe that the renaming entails huge financial expenses (21% of total respondents), is pointless (12%) or harmful as “there’s no point dwelling on the past” (11%).
A proposal to change the name of the city of Volgograd to its previous name was supported by one in four respondents (26%). The basic arguments in favour of the proposal are “it’s our history” (14% of total respondents) and “a memory of the people’s exploit during the Great Patriotic War” (12%).
The telephone survey was conducted on January 31, 2023, and commissioned by the Social Research Expert Institute. A total of 600 inhabitants of Volgograd aged 18 and older were interviewed. Survey method: stratified random sample based on a list of mobile phone number in use in the region. Data are weighted for probability of selection and socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 4%. 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.
A proposal has recently been initiated as to change the name of the city of Volgograd to Stalingrad. How do you perceive the initiative? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
Likely support | 26 |
Likely oppose | 67 |
Don’t know | 7 |
Why do you not support the initiative? (open-ended question, up to 3 answers; % of those who do not support the idea; shown are answers that gained at least 2%; data calculated in % of total respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
Huge costs, extra money from the budget (waste of money, money laundering) | 21 |
I see no point, what it is for | 12 |
No point dwelling on the past | 11 |
It will remind of Stalin / negative perception of Stalin | 7 |
Volgograd sounds better / I like it better / The city is on the Volga river | 6 |
We got used to this name | 6 |
It will not give anything to the inhabitants; there are many other problems | 5 |
Difficulties with papers for local residents / additional problems | 5 |
It’s better to restore its historical name “Tsaritsyn” | 4 |
I’m against the renaming / the city has already its name | 4 |
Time for renaming is lost | 3 |
It will remind me of the war | 2 |
The city was already renamed | 2 |
Other | 3 |
Don’t know / unanswered | 37 |
Why do you support the idea? (open-ended question, up to 3 answers; % of those who support the idea; shown are answers that gained at least 2%; data calculated in % of total respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
We need to restore its historical name / it’s our history | 14 |
This is a memory of war / about people’s exploit / people fought exactly for Stalingrad / this is a Hero City | 12 |
This is related to Stalin / Stalin’s huge contribution to the victory / country’ s development | 3 |
I was born in the Soviet Union | 2 |
I prefer this name / good idea | 2 |
Other | 1 |
Don’t know / unanswered | 75 |