Less than quarter of Russians view govt’s performance as efficient – poll

(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) Russians are critical about the government’s performance but do not expect its dismissal in the near future, the Levada Center public survey service told Interfax based on results of an April poll of 1,600 respondents.

Nearly a quarter of Russians – 24% – believe the government led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is efficient, while 68% hold the opposite view.

Half of the respondents – 50% – presumed that Medvedev will remain prime minister at least until the end of President Vladimir Putin’s current presidential term, 15% believe he will remain prime minister one or two years more, 14% three or four years more and 3% “not more than several months,” while 18% were undecided.

President Putin said during a traditional annual Q&A session earlier on Thursday that the government ministers should be given some more time to work, despite criticism that has been leveled at them lately. The law stipulates that a prime minister’s dismissal is tantamount to the government’s dismissal as a whole.

Most Russians – 53% – are unaware that Medvedev recently presented a report on the government’s performance at the State Duma. Among those who know this, 7% watched a TV broadcast of his presentation, 16% saw some fragments of it mostly from news programs or from the press, and 24% heard about the report in general.

Asked what subjects addressed by Medvedev impressed them more than others, 26% of those polled mentioned reform of the housing and utilities sector, 21% reform of the healthcare system, 20% each combat against corruption, pension reform and the decision not to increase the pension age, 18% Medvedev’s remarks regarding payments for housing and utilities, 15% pay rises to medical workers and teachers, 14% education problems, and 12% improvement of the people’s housing conditions.

Some respondents also recalled Medvedev’s remarks on the financial crisis in Cyprus, measures to overcome a global downturn, the preservation of the summertime, the agricultural sector, the proposal that a legal limit of alcohol in drivers’ blood different from zero be set, the payment of ‘golden parachutes’ to outgoing executives of state corporations, and some other issues.

Some 22% could not say what part of Medvedev’s report they remembered better than others.

Following Medvedev’s presentation at the Duma, 15% formed “quite a clear picture” of the direction Russia will be moving in years to come and what targets the leadership has set, 38% have a vague idea of this, and 27% have no idea about this at all, while 12% realized that “the things in the country have been left to take their own course.”

Asked how they think the Russian economy is going to do within the next several months, 38% said they expect that it will improve and another 38% that it will worsen, the poll showed.