Putin’s confidence rating at 78.3%, Russians drifting toward conservatism – survey

(Interfax – May 7, 2014) President Vladimir Putin has a confidence rating of 78.3% in Russia, and Russian society is drifting toward conservatism, according to the country’s Civil Society Development Foundation (FoRGO).

“There exists demand for conservative policy in practically all strata of Russian society despite allegations by liberal critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” FoRGO said in a report on a survey entitled “Russia and the Russians: Self-Identification and the Current State of National Self-Awareness.”

The survey was posted on FoRGO’s website on Tuesday.

The foundation said the findings reflected, in addition to Russian national self-identification, their “views on modern social and economic problems of the country and on its development prospects, and their assessments of the latest developments in Ukraine.”

The study was based on a nationwide poll and focus-group surveys last month. FoRGO questioned 1,617 people in 48 of Russia’s regions in the nationwide survey and obtained views from 43 focus groups in 21 regions. The returns were said to have a margin of error of 2.5%.