MOSCOW, 23 August 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey on the Western influence on the domestic culture.

Western role in general

More than half of Russians (59%) do not consider the Western civilization, democracy and culture beneficial: 33% say the western concepts do not suit us; 26% view them as destructive. This viewpoint has become considerably stronger since 2000 when 35% of respondents held negative opinions: 25% thought that the Western values did not suit us, and 10% considered them destructive. At the same time, the share of those who think that the Western civilization, democracy and culture can be beneficial has decreased from 55% in 2000 to 30% in 2022. The Western world is no longer a benchmark and a development vector for Russians. The Russian community is equally split on this issue.

Young people remain loyal towards the West; the 18-34-year-olds consider that Russia needs the West and can benefit a lot from that (55-50%). The share of those who hold the opposite views thinking that the Western values are inappropriate and harmful is high among respondents aged over 35 and especially those aged 60 and older (70%).  Other differentiation criteria are urbanization rate, media consumption and education. The smaller the type of settlement, the higher the level of negative moods. People living in rural area and small settlements under 100,000 inhabitants consider that the Western civilization, democracy and culture are inappropriate and harmful to Russia (64-65%); metropolitan residents, people living in million-plus and large cities (500-950,000 inhabitants) are twice as more likely to say that the West can bring a lot of good things to Russia (43-42% vs. 25% of rural inhabitants). Education shows a similar pattern: the higher the level of education, the more loyal the respondents are towards the West. The percentage of those who are loyal in the group of those with incomplete secondary education is 17% (vs 40% in the group of those with higher education diplomas).

Active TV viewers are most likely to perceive the West in a negative way (78% give negative answers vs. 44% of active Internet users who give positive answers in 48% of cases).

West and Russian culture

Today every second Russian considers that the Western influence is not to blame and we are forgetting our own culture (55%); a third think the problem comes from the increased influence of the Western culture (35%). Over the recent 22 years public opinion has not changed (50% and 35% in 2000).  There is a common consent on this issue in the public; however those who say that we are moving away from our own culture are often young respondents aged 18-24 (73%).

Forty-four percent of Russians consider that the Western culture has a negative impact on the Russian artistic taste (+8 p.p. by 2000). The share of those who point to positive impact has halved (17% in 2000; 9% in 2022). There are considerable generational differences regarding this issue: Russians aged 18-24 tend to mention positive (23%) or mixed impact (51%); on the contrary, older age Russians are inclined to point out negative influences (57%) – this stance is typical of active TV viewers (54%). Only 9% of respondents say that the Western culture has no impact on the Russian artistic taste.  

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 5 August, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews using a stratified random sample based on a complete list of Russian mobile phone numbers. The data were weighted according to social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. 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.

August 5, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: 1,600 respondents, cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8275; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0213; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1696. Calculations based on corporate standard:   https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/ 

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

***RR: RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.

*household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage sample with socio-demographic quotas; sample representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over based on settlement type, gender, age, education, and federal district. Sample size: 1,600.

*household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage sample with socio-demographic quotas; sample representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over based on settlement type, gender, age, education, and federal district. Sample size: 1,600.

*household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage sample with socio-demographic quotas; sample representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over based on settlement type, gender, age, education, and federal district. Sample size: 1,600.