Most Russians Feel They are Suffering from ‘Too Many Inconveniences’ and This Sense Both Reflects and is Affecting Their Evaluations of Putin, Levinson Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 12 – Two of the most frequently asked questions are whether the anger many Russians feel about the difficulties they now face in their daily lives will translate into political opposition to those responsible or whether Russians will keep the two separate and support Putin despite the problems they have.

            Investigating those issues are difficult, but Aleksey Levinson of the Levada Center says that the results of a survey in which Russians were asked whether “there are too many inconveniences” in their lives and how this relates to political judgments provide suggestive answers (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/05/12/byt-zael).

            Despite fears that Russians might not be willing to answer such a question, the sociologist says, the poll found that the rate of those who were not ready to give an answer was no higher than in other polls and that the differences the responses between the poorest segments of society and the wealthiest are thus indicative.

            The survey found that “more than two-thirds of the Russian residents surveyed are now dissatisfied with the sheet volume of inconveniences in their lives, while only 20 percent are inclined to disagree and only seven percent “definitely” do so, with poorer Russians more inclined to agree and wealthier ones less so.

            What this suggests, Levinson says, is that “for the majority of people in the country, life does not feel the way it ought to and therefore it is not merely inconvenient but excessively so.” At the same time, his pollsters asked whether the country was moving in the right direction. As has been true throughout the Putin era, a majority does; but the size of that majority is falling.

            This suggests, the pollster concludes, that feelings about inconveniences are beginning to have political consequences, he continues, with those who oppose Putin, although a minority but a growing one, “more than twice as likely as his supporters to state with absolute certainty that ‘there are far too many inconveniences’” in Russian live under his rule.