#10
Izvestia
December 11, 2001
RUSSIANS DO NOT KNOW THEIR CONSTITUTION
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
Public Opinion foundation conducted a survey on the eve of the Day of the
Constitution to discover Russians' attitude towards the celebration. The results
were predictable.
55% of Russians admit that they do not know major provisions of the Constitution, and 47% assume that this is just "a formal document which has no bearing on the actual life of the country". Only 36% of respondents say they know major provisions of the Constitution, but sociologists treat this figure with suspicion. Random checks in Samara and Novosibirsk did not find a single (!) respondent acquainted with the text of the Constitution. Only two were found in Moscow.
The fact that most Russians have never read the Constitution does not prevent them from expressing their attitude. 38% of respondents do not think much of the Constitution and 28% actually like it. More than every third respondent refused to even try and evaluate it. 67% of Russians advocate for a revision of the Constitution, and only 8% want it left alone.
Specialists ascribe this dislike of the Constitution in society to "Soviet" mentality - the country is in chaos, and this means that the laws are flawed.
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