Interfax: Most Russians’ attitude to opposition activist Navalnyy is negative – poll

(Interfax – Moscow, April 23, 2013) Aleksey Navalnyy, one of the leaders of the Russian non-establishment opposition, is known to this or that degree to 53 per cent of Russians and 51 per cent perceive him negatively, VTsIOM (Russian Public Opinion Research Centre) pollsters have told Interfax news agency presenting the results of their study.

According to the VTsIOM, Navalnyy is not the most well-known opposition activist. There are better known people: (RPR-Parnas party co-chairman) Boris Nemtsov (78 per cent), (member of the Solidarity opposition public movement) Garri Kasparov (76 per cent) and (RPR-Parnas party co-chairman) Mikhail Kasyanov (68 per cent).

Attitude to Navalnyy has recently worsened: among those who know him, the number of respondents perceiving him negatively has risen from 31 to 51 per cent since February 2012. A total of 19 per cent perceive him positively.

At the same time, sociologists note that the number of Russians, negatively perceiving other participants in the White Ribbon movement, has increased: (leader of the In Defence of Khimki Forest movement) Yevgeniya Chirikova (from 39 to 45 per cent); (Left Front coordinator) Sergey Udaltsov (from 39 to 45 per cent) and Boris Nemtsov (from 50 to 59 per cent).

Those polled said they knew little about Navalnyy’s activities. They know mainly that he is involved in opposition activities (14 per cent), fewer people know about his fight against corruption and about public and political activities in general (2 per cent each).

Those who know Navalnyy to this or that degree, as a rule, are indifferent to him (40 per cent). The rest tend to think negatively of him: 15 per cent do not trust him and only 2 per cent do. A total of 8 per cent are sceptical about him; 7 per cent dislike him and 6 per cent denounce him. A total of 6 per cent have a liking for him and the same number of respondents respect him.

Those, who know Navalnyy, link his political activities with the striving for power, in the first place (13 per cent), and the fight against the current regime (10 per cent). Fewer respondents believe that he is fighting for justice (6 per cent) and against corruption (3 per cent). A total of 7 per cent believe that this is no more than a campaign to get more popularity; 3 per cent of those polled see other motives: striving to become rich or destabilize the situation, or to carry out instructions of the West.

The VTsIOM poll was carried out with the participation of 1,600 people in 130 settlements in Russia’s 42 regions, territories and republics.