Less than a third of Russians consider any protests in their city likely. 28% of Russians believe that protests with political demands are likely, 30% – protests against the decline in living standards are likely. This is noticeably lower than in January: then 45% and 43% of respondents considered protests possible, respectively.

Less than a quarter of respondents are ready to take part in  any protest actions if they take place in their locality. Russians consider protests with political demands less likely and are less willing to go out to them – only 16% give a positive answer, while about 21% of respondents are ready to go out to protests against falling living standards or in defense of their rights.

The willingness to take part in social and economic protests is influenced by the preferred sources of information and the age of the respondents. The audience of social networks and telegram channels is the most likely to take part in protest actions, the least likely is the audience of television.

Young people under the age of 25 are the most active in expressing their protest moods. Older respondents (55 years and older) are less willing to take part in protest actions. However, the gap between the younger and older age group is getting smaller.

Among those who do not approve of the president’s activities, the level of protest moods is noticeably higher: 35% are ready to take part in protests with political demands, 38% – in protests in defense of social rights. Among those who approve of Vladimir Putin’s activities, only 7% and 12%, respectively, are ready to join the protest actions.

This survey was conducted May 20 – 26 2021, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample was comprised of 1620 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the total number of participants along with data from previous surveys.

The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:

3.4% for indicators around 50%

2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%

2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%

1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%

The ANO Levada Center has been included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents.