Overwhelming Majority of Those Opposed to Putin and His War Don’t Trust Poll Results, Levada Center Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 24 – According to a new Levada Center survey, “the overwhelming majority of respondents who are critical [of Putin and his policies] do not trust published poll results and are inclined to explain them by saying that the majority of Russians now are afraid to express their opinion.”

            “If overall 56 percent of those surveyed consider that the majority of Russians now are afraid to express their positions in polls,” Levada says, “then among those who do not approve of the activity of the leadership of the country, this share rises to 75 percent; among those who think the country is one the wrong path, to 71 percent, and among those who don’t support Russian actions in Ukraine, to 67 percent” (levada.ru/2022/05/24/uchastie-v-oprosah-i-doverie-dannym/).

            But even many but not the majority of those those backing Putin are suspicious of poll reports, the sociological center says, as “over the last decade, the share of those who consider that the results should not be trusted has risen with people saying the surveys are carried out in the interests of those who finance them has risen from 31 to 42 percent.”

            Despite the expectations of some, these percentages have not changed dramatically from 2020, an indication that as far as attitudes about polls are concerned, Putin’s war in Ukraine and reported poll results about levels of approval have not changed significantly since the start of the war.