Russians’ attitude towards the United States has improved markedly amid the ongoing negotiations, which have become the most memorable event of February. Almost two thirds of the respondents rate relations between Russia and the United States as bad. The majority of respondents have a bad attitude towards Joe Biden, while the majority have a good attitude towards Donald Trump. The good attitude towards Trump is due to his attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and improve relations with Russia. Almost half of the respondents believe that relations between Russia and the United States will improve after Trump’s election. Half expect that after the conflict ends, relations between Russia and the West will return to normal. More than half support the idea of expanding ties with Western countries.

The most memorable event in February was the negotiations between the US and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia, as mentioned by a quarter of the respondents (23%). Another 12 % mentioned the phone call between V.Putin and D.Trump, as well as their potential meeting. Events related to the Special Military Operation were also mentioned by 12%, including 8% – just events in Special Military Operation, Ukraine, 4% – successes in Special Military Operation. For 6% of respondents, the most memorable events were the first actions of the newly elected President of the United States, D. Trump. 41% of respondents could not name any events: for 21%, there were none at all, and 20% found it difficult to answer.

Against the background of the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine (which the majority of Russians view positively), the attitude towards the United States has improved dramatically – up to 30% (an increase of 14 percentage points since September 2024). However, half of the respondents (51%) still have a bad attitude towards America (including 21% – very bad, and 30% – mostly bad).

Young people under 24 years old (40%), those who disapprove of V. Putin’s activity as president (38%), those who trust YouTube channels as a source of information (54%) have the best attitude to America.

Older respondents (52% of respondents aged 55 and older), Muscovites (63%), those who approve of the current president’s activities (52%), and those who trust television as a source of information (54%) feel worse about America than others.

The majority of Russians (63%) negatively assess the current relations between Russia and the United States, but the number of such respondents has decreased by 24 percentage points since May 2021. So, now every third person calls the real relations between the Russian Federation and the United States cool, every fourth – tense, and 6% of respondents – hostile. 22% of respondents believe that normal, calm relations have developed between Russia and America, while 9% spoke of good relations (friendly – 4%, good, neighborly – 5%).

Half of the respondents (51%) have a good attitude towards the newly elected President of the United States, D. Trump, while the majority of respondents say they have a bad attitude towards the former president, J. Biden (79%).  Over the past four years, the attitude towards D. Trump has improved twice (by 26 p.p. since January 2021), while the attitude towards J. Biden has worsened, and more than twice (the growth of negative attitude by 44 p.p.).

Respondents mostly feel good about Donald Trump because of his attempts to stop the Ukrainian conflict: “there is hope that the war will end/ promotes peace between Russia and Ukraine” – 29%, “agrees to negotiate” – 12% and improve relations with Russia: “he is trying to establish friendly relations with Russia, restoring ties” – 26%, and also because of his human qualities: “a man of action, a good politician, a real man” – 15%, “smart, sober, adequate, better than the previous president” – 13%.

Those who treat D. Trump badly give the following judgments: “I don’t believe him, I don’t trust him, he’s cunning, he’s on his own mind” – 15%, “he’s against Russia, he didn’t do anything for us” – 12%, “unpredictable, unbalanced, clown, frivolous” – 7%, “businessman, trader“, “supports Ukraine“, “has not done anything yet” – 6% each.

Since the first presidential term of D. Trump (2016), the share of respondents who expect an improvement in relations between Russia and the United States after D. Trump’s election as president has decreased to 44% (a decrease of 10 percentage points). The number of those who believe that the relationship will not change is growing – up to 34% (an increase of 7 percentage points). 8% of respondents think that the relationship will worsen, compared to only 2% in 2016. 

More than half of the respondents (58%) support further expansion of economic, political, and cultural ties and rapprochement with Western countries, but their number has decreased by 21 percentage points over the past 25 years. On the contrary, one in four respondents (26%) believes that it is necessary to reduce ties and move away from Western countries, the peak of such sentiments was in July 2015.

Half of the respondents (50%) expect that after the current conflict over Ukraine and Crimea, relations between Russia and Western countries will gradually return to what they were before. At the same time, every third respondent (32%) believes that we are facing an increase in tension, a new round of the cold war. The share of both groups of respondents is decreasing slightly due to the growing number of those who found it difficult to answer.