Page 21 - RusRPTDec19

Histories CEO Alexander Vikulin.
The Levada Center released its time-honored poll about how Russians
feel towards Vladimir Putin on November 18th​. Compared to the previous
poll published in 2017, it shows a significant decrease in the percentage of
people feeling “sympathy” towards the Russian president (from 32% to 24%).
In its poll, Levada gives nine options for the respondents to describe their
feelings about Putin: “admiration”; “sympathy”; “I don’t have anything bad to
say about him”; “neutral, indifferent”; “cautious”; “I don’t have anything good to
say about him”; “antipathy”; “disgust”; “hard to say.” Levada grouped these into
three categories: positive, distant, and negative, with the “distant” category
being the constant leader since 2000. (There was a very brief exception in
2008 when “positive” came first.) The “distant” category is now on the rise
again since it reached its lowest point in 2014, but it’s still about 10% away
from its highest point in 2013, when 70% of Russians expressed distant
feelings about Putin.
The share of Russians who view free speech, the right to a fair trial and other civil rights as important freedoms has increased by double digits in two years​, according to the independent Levada Center pollster. Experts and sociologists link the double-digit growth in the importance of civil rights issues among Russians to events surrounding recent anti-government protests, falling living standards and unpopular government reforms. Free speech has made the highest gains on Levada's list of 17 rights and freedoms most valued by its respondents, with 58% of Russians saying they value it in 2019 compared to 34% in 2017. The right to a fair trial rose three spots in the ranking to third place, with 64% of Russians saying they value it this year compared to 50% two years ago, the survey published said.
21​ RUSSIA Country Report​ December 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com