The majority of respondents are satisfied with the results of the elections, expect changes for the better in this regard and believe that the elections were held fairly; these figures are higher compared to the results of polls after the previous elections. The opinion about the elections strongly depends on the attitude of respondents to the government: positive assessments prevail among those who support the president, and negative ones among oppositional citizens. 75% of the respondents took part in the voting, of which the majority voted for the incumbent president. Among Vladimir Putin’s supporters, two—thirds decided on the choice long before the voting day, among supporters of other candidates, more than half were determined during the campaign. Most of the respondents voted on Friday, the absolute majority at the polling station. The main motives for voting were a “sense of duty”, a desire to support their candidate and the habit of going to the polls, the main motives for non—participation were employment and disbelief that participation could change something. According to the sociological services, about a third of the respondents followed the ratings of candidates.
Month: May 2024
Conflict with Ukraine: Assesments for March 2024
In March, attention to events in Ukraine increased. The level of support for the actions of the Russian armed forces remains consistently high. The number of supporters of peace talks has been declining since the end of last year, while the number of supporters of continued hostilities remains virtually unchanged. Supporters of the peace talks explain their position by saying that “there are many victims,” “people are dying,” and “war fatigue has accumulated.” Those who advocate the continuation of hostilities explain their opinion by saying that “it is necessary to go to the end,” “finish what has been started,” “destroy fascism,” “negotiations will lead to nothing.” About half of the respondents do not rule out a second wave of partial mobilization, but their number has decreased over the past year. The majority of respondents support the annexation of Crimea and believe that it has brought Russia more benefits — their number has grown over the past few years.
Conflict with Ukraine: Assesments for February 2024
The level of support for the actions of the Russian armed forces remains consistently high. There are still slightly more than half of the respondents who support peace talks, but their number has decreased slightly over the past three months. Russians consider the main objectives of the “special operation” to be the protection of residents of Donbass and ensuring the security of the country. Over the past six months, the number of people who are confident that the “special operation” is going well has been growing; today 70% of respondents believe so. Against this background, the majority does not expect a new wave of mobilisation; the prevailing view is that there is no need for it. The level of concerns about mobilisation has almost halved compared to September last year — only a third of respondents is concerned.
The scale of public support for Boris Nadezhdin
At the end of February, almost half of the respondents knew about the refusal of the Central Election Commission to register Boris Nadezhdin to participate in the presidential elections. At the same time, about 9% allowed the opportunity to vote for Nadezhdin, but only 3% decided on the choice and were ready to cast their vote for him. About 7% of respondents approved of Nadezhdin’s activities in February, while the majority did not know anything about him. Support for the politician was higher among younger, better-off and more educated residents of the largest cities. Those who sympathized with Nadezhdin were those who saw in him a “fresh man”, a “new face” or a principled oppositionist. Respondents who did not sympathize with the policy gave the most general arguments, or called him “unreliable”, “frivolous” and oriented towards the West.