Page 22 - RusRPTDec18

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Most Russians (84%) feel happy and say that being part of a family, being healthy and having a good job are reasons to be cheerful, the state owned pollster, the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM) said on November 23. "The level of happiness among Russians is still high, as 84% of those surveyed said they were content. The number is high in every social and demographic group but a thing to note is that people who consider their financial situation to be solid (94%) tend to be more optimistic than those complaining about a dire financial situation (66%)," the statement reads. According to the pollster, family is what still brings Russians happiness, and the importance of this factor has grown in the past six months. "Today, 33% of the poll’s participants say they feel upbeat thanks to their families (up from 30% six months ago)," the statement notes. Since March 2018, the number of people enjoying their lives because they feel healthy rose from 16% to 21%. For others, children and good jobs are keys to happiness - each of these two categories showed a 15% growth. "Financial difficulties are the primary reason for feeling dissatisfied (12%)," the pollster went on to say. In addition, "the poll’s participants also get frustrated and depressed because of the adverse situation in the country (9%), poor health, low wages and late paychecks (5% for each of those reasons)." As many as 32% of those polled said that most of their family members and friends were content, while 16% admitted that most people in their immediate circle were discontent with their lives, and 48% said there was an almost equal number of happy and unhappy people around them.
While Russians still want to see Russia as a "great power", it should be conditioned first and foremost by the ability of the state to maintain the well-being of its citizens, a study by the RAN Institute of Sociology cited by Kommersant daily on November 7 shows. "State and military power" is no longer the priority mass narrative for Russians and since post-Crimea 2014 gave way to "Justice, state power, and democracy", according to the study. Notably, as the ruling United Russia party has experienced a number of setbacks in key regions at the latest September 2018 elections, "democracy" was added to the 2014 version, which only included "justice and state power". Previously two thirds (67%) of the respondents believed that Crimea annexation was "recovering justice in foreign policy", while currently only 49% of the respondents hold such views and 51% believe that "Russia should first care about its own citizens". The number of respondents viewing Russian economic counter-sanctions as positive declined to 47% from 60% in 2014. The results of the study are in line with previous 2018 polls that indicated that Putin's foreign policy not to deflect attention from problems at home. The number of Russian who approve of the foreign policy of President Vladimir Putin declined from 22% in 2017 to 16% currently, Levada Center pollster said in August. With growing popular discontent, the ecstasy of the FIFA World Cup held in Russia behind, it might not be enough to continue pumping up the "us versus them" and Russia's special on the global arena to deflect attention from domestic social issues. The latest polls show Russians voicing the opinion of "lets stop blaming all [the other countries], let’s help ourselves, let's better spend this money at home," Levada Center sociologist Denis Volkov commented, as cited by RBC. While Russians increasingly see Putin as a seasoned politician (49% versus 33% in 2016), only 17% are convinced that he is "motivated by state interests" (25% in 2016), while 17% of respondents believe Putin to be "affiliated with big capital".
More than one-third of Russians (37%) view poll results with skepticism,
22 RUSSIA Country Report December 2018 www.intellinews.com