Russians show little interest in campaign videos but prefer One Russia's - poll
RIA-Novosti
Moscow, 19 November: Russian voters are so far showing little interest in election campaigning, according to a VTsIOM (All-Russia Centre for Public Opinion Studies) poll the results of which were published on Monday (19 November).
Most respondents - 59-86 per cent depending on the parties - either have not seen or cannot remember the parties' TV ads, a press release says.
According to the poll, TV viewers remember One Russia videos best of all: 36 per cent of those questioned said they had already watched them. Meanwhile, 25 per cent of respondents have watched LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) videos; 22 per cent, those of the CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation; and 21 per cent, those of A Just Russia. The videos of the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and Yabloko were less well remembered (18 and 16 per cent), as were those of Patriots of Russia and the Agrarian Party (14 and 12 per cent). The videos of Civil Force, the Democratic Party of Russia and the Social Justice Party were only watched by 7-9 per cent of those questioned.
So far, viewers have liked One Russia videos best: 71 per cent of those who watched them said they liked the videos and 16 per cent said they did not. The videos of A Just Russia have been assessed positively by half of those polled and negatively by one-third. LDPR, CPRF and SPS videos received 38-39 per cent of positive assessments and somewhat more, 43-47 per cent, of negative ones. The viewers regarded Yabloko videos as the weakest (+27 per cent, -57 per cent).
One Russia and A Just Russia videos target potential voters more: among those, 75 and 53 per cent respectively assess them positively (among those not intending to turn out to vote the figures are 47 and 29 per cent respectively). Meanwhile SPS videos were liked by 39 per cent of potential voters who watched them and by 42 per cent of absentees who watched them.
The TV viewers who could not say which party they intended to vote for in the parliamentary election in most cases like the videos of One Russia (57 per cent), A Just Russia and Patriots of Russia (50 per cent each).
According to the poll, the respondents who are planning to go to the polls on 2 December as a rule show more interest in parties' campaigning materials than those who have no intention of voting.
The proactive nationwide poll by VTsIOM was held on 9-10 November 2007. It involved 1,600 people in 153 population centres in 46 regions, territories and republics of Russia. The margin of error is no more than 3.4 per cent.