Interfax: Third of Russians think Russia has all the democracy it needs – poll

Map of Russia

(Interfax – Moscow, September 30, 2014) A relative majority of Russians (39 per cent) believe that democracy in the Russian Federation was [and is] at its height under the rule of Vladimir Putin: 12 per cent said that it was so during the first two terms of Putin’s presidency (2000-2008), and 27 per cent – during this term (since 2012), a poll conducted by [the Russian polling organization] Public Opinion Foundation [FOM] has shown.

Another eight per cent said that democracy was flourishing in the times of Leonid Brezhnev, seven per cent – in the times of Boris Yeltsin, three per cent – in the times of Mikhail Gorbachev, two per cent – under Joseph Stalin, another two per cent – under Yuriy Andropov, one per cent – under Nikita Khrushchev, and another one per cent – under Dmitriy Medvedev (2008-2012).

At the same time, 37 per cent of Russians were unable to answer the question about when Russia had the highest level of democracy.

According to the poll conducted on 21 September among 1,500 respondents in 43 constituent parts of the Russian Federation, the most common response was that Russia has as much democracy as needed (34 per cent). Twenty-two per cent think that there is a lack of democracy, while 11 per cent disagree with them.

 

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