Interfax: Almost half of Russians certain of tomorrow – poll

MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax) – Russians most often consider their life as favorable but still prefer to make short-term plans, sociologists said.

In the past several months Russian citizens started assessing their lives more positively than before – the share of respondents thinking it is favorable grew from 37% in Q1 to 42% in Q3, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) said presenting the results of a poll held in 130 cities, towns and villages in 42 Russian regions, territories and republics. The number of those admitting “it is difficult to live but it is bearable” decreased form 51% to 46%.

Over a half of respondents (52% out of 1,600) said they lived same as before and did not change their lifestyle. Another 16% believe they managed to use new opportunities to improve their lifestyle. Meanwhile, 22% have to limit themselves and 8% cannot adjust to current conditions, sociologists said.

A total of 47% respondents (against 41% a year ago) currently feel certainty in the future, while 50% (against 54%) feel the opposite, the survey should.

The majority of Russians (62%) try not make plans for future, 44% make short-term plans and 18% long-term ones, the poll showed. A total of 37% respondents do not plan their life because they consider the situation in the country unstable (18%) or because this is simply not typical of them (19%).