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Few Russians Believe They Live In A Democracy — Poll
RIA Novosti - 3.19.12 - JRL 2012-52

The percentage of Russians who are confident their country is a democracy has doubled over the last two years but remains in single digits, according to an opinion poll carried out by the Levada Centre in February and reported by the state news agency RIA Novosti on 19 March.

Map of Russia
file photo
Asked whether "democracy exists in today's Russia", 8 per cent of those polled said yes, compared with 4 per cent in March 2010. Some 40 per cent said there was "partial" democracy, compared with 32 per cent two years ago, 31 per cent said democracy was "yet to establish itself", as opposed to 36 per cent two years ago, and 14 per cent said they had recently seen "less and less" democracy, compared with 20 per cent to two years ago.

In the same poll, asked what they understood by democracy, 47 per cent mentioned "freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of religious belief", 24 per cent referred to "the country's economic prosperity" and the same proportion mentioned "order and stability". Some 20 per cent spoke of "strict legality", 18 per cent said "all senior state leaders should be elected", while "the opportunity for each person to whatever they want" and "idle chatter" were each mentioned by 10 per cent.

The Levada Centre carried out its poll on 24-27 February among 1,600 people living in 45 of Russia's 83 regions. The statistical margin of error does not exceed 3.4 per cent.

Keywords: Russia, Government, Politics - Russian News - Russia

 

The percentage of Russians who are confident their country is a democracy has doubled over the last two years but remains in single digits, according to an opinion poll carried out by the Levada Centre in February and reported by the state news agency RIA Novosti on 19 March.

Map of Russia
file photo
Asked whether "democracy exists in today's Russia", 8 per cent of those polled said yes, compared with 4 per cent in March 2010. Some 40 per cent said there was "partial" democracy, compared with 32 per cent two years ago, 31 per cent said democracy was "yet to establish itself", as opposed to 36 per cent two years ago, and 14 per cent said they had recently seen "less and less" democracy, compared with 20 per cent to two years ago.

In the same poll, asked what they understood by democracy, 47 per cent mentioned "freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of religious belief", 24 per cent referred to "the country's economic prosperity" and the same proportion mentioned "order and stability". Some 20 per cent spoke of "strict legality", 18 per cent said "all senior state leaders should be elected", while "the opportunity for each person to whatever they want" and "idle chatter" were each mentioned by 10 per cent.

The Levada Centre carried out its poll on 24-27 February among 1,600 people living in 45 of Russia's 83 regions. The statistical margin of error does not exceed 3.4 per cent.