03.02.09

In the last month, the number of Russians assessing the state of the world economy as in crisis has increased by almost 10 per cent, with only one in 10 seeing considerable progress in the fight against the consequences of the crisis thanks to the efforts of the Russian government, sociologists have ascertained.

In January 2009, the proportion of Russians assessing the state of the world economy as in crisis rose from 34 per cent to 43 per cent in comparison with December 2008. At the same time, the number of citizens inclined to assess the state of the economy as stable decreased from 7 to 4 per cent and only 1 per cent of those polled in the middle of January noted its (the economy's) dynamic development, director-general of VTsIOM (All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion) Valeriy Fedorov reported at an Interfax new conference today.

Announcing the results of the poll, which was conducted on 17-18 January in 42 regions of the Russian Federation, he reported that, as before, respondents consider the unwise social-economic policy of world powers to be the main cause of the crisis. The proportion of such respondents rose from 13 per cent to 16 per cent in a month.

The economic and social-political crisis in the USA remains in second place (12 per cent), although in November, according to VTsIOM's measurements, twice as few respondents provided such an explanation.

Among other causes of the crisis, Russians pointed to the mortgage crisis in the USA (5 per cent), US politics (4 per cent), the instability of prices for energy resources and dependence on the prices of energy resources (3 per cent). Another 3 per cent explained the crisis by corruption, machinations and also the creation of the crisis by the authorities and political games.

In Russians' opinion, Fedorov noted, the USA (37 per cent) and Russia (34 per cent) suffered more from the crisis than other countries. In comparison with December, the proportion of those who consider America the main "victim of the crisis" has decreased by 10 per cent and the proportion of those naming Russia (as the main victim of the crisis) on the other hand has risen from 27 per cent. (Passage omitted)

If 43 per cent believed in November that the crisis would not last long, Fedorov noted, then 33 per cent express such an opinion at present, and more than half of Russians (54 per cent) are sure that today's crisis is a long-term process, from which there will be no quick exit (33 per cent in November and 47 per cent in December). The proportion of those who had difficulty responding to the question fell to 13 per cent.

As Fedorov noted, 11 per cent see considerable progress in the fight against the crisis, thanks to the measures taken by the Russian government. Meanwhile, according to his data, almost half of those surveyed (48 per cent) do not yet observe any positive changes in overcoming the crisis but expect that the anticrisis measures will soon bear fruit. And 22 per cent believe that there are no positive changes and, most likely, will not be.

In a month, the proportion of those who know nothing about the Russian government's anticrisis plan decreased from 56 to 53 per cent. Eleven per cent believe that the plan is based on sustaining the banking system (19 per cent in December) and 8 per cent on sustaining small and medium businesses. Three per cent of those polled indicated such measures as the support of the unemployed and the increase of pensions and wages; another 2 per cent indicated the strengthening of the rouble and control of inflation.

Eleven per cent consider that the government's anticrisis plan is adequate for the situation and will yield a positive result in the near future. Another 27 per cent expressed the opinion that it will yield a certain effect but the crisis will nevertheless be long and serious and the government will still have to reconsider its actions more than once and to devise new measures for fighting the crisis (18 per cent in December). Another 8 per cent pessimistically reported that the plan serves no purpose and will have no effect (3 per cent). At the same time, more than half of respondents had difficulty assessing the government's anticrisis plan.

Meanwhile, according to VTsIOM's data, the potential for protest in Russia is small.

As Fedorov reported, the proportion of Russians believing mass demonstrations against the decline in living standards in connection to the crisis to be unlikely has risen from 61 per cent in December to 64 per cent in January. In the past month, the proportion of Russians who would not take part in protests if they were to take place in their region has also risen from 66 to 70 per cent. The number of Russians prepared to support such protests has remained the same - 21 per cent; the proportion of those having difficulty responding decreased from 13 to 9 per cent.

Concerning the level of the population's confidence in government institutions in the crisis conditions, Fedorov reported that the approval rating of Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev's activities has remained relatively stable in recent months and ranges from 74-77 per cent and at the time of the latest poll (January 17-18) it retained 75 per cent, and the electoral rating of the head of state was 54 per cent.

At the time of the poll, the level of approval of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's activities was 77 per cent, although a week earlier it was 81 per cent, the same as in December, Fedorov noted. For the period from December to the present time, according to his data, 56 per cent of Russians approve of the government's activities.

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Source: Interfax