RUSSIALINK: “Poll: 19% of Russians believe relations with U.S. will improve soon, 42% don’t expect them to change” – Interfax

File Photo of U.S. Embassy Moscow, with Russian Foreign Ministry Building in Distance

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Nearly one-fifth of Russians, 19%, allow for the possibility that relations between Moscow and Washington might improve soon, the Public Opinion Foundation has found based on a poll of 1,500 respondents aged 18 and older conducted on January 22-24, 2021.

In the view of 44% of the respondents, these relations will not change anytime soon, and 15% expect them to worsen, the poll showed.

Asked about their opinion on changes in Russian-U.S. relations over the past year, 47% said they have not noticed any changes, 32% are of the view these relations have worsened, and 4% said they have improved.

The Public Opinion Foundation has found that 17% of Russians have a good attitude toward the United States, and this figure reaches 33% among respondents aged between 18 and 30.

At the same time, 28% said their attitude toward the U.S. is bad, and this figure reaches 41% among the respondents aged 60 and older. Nearly half of Russians, 48%, said their attitudes toward the U.S. are indifferent.

Over half of Russians, 60%, believe the U.S. is playing a negative role in the modern world, and this opinion is shared by 72% of the respondents aged 60 and older.

Some 14% of Russians believe the U.S. is playing a rather positive role, and the share of such respondents reaches 34% among those aged from 18 to 30.

A quarter of the respondents were undecided about the U.S.’ role in the world.

Only 16% of Russians believe the U.S.’ influence in the world is growing, while 27% said this influence is declining, the poll found.

Asked to list what they see as the factors prompting this influence to grow, respondents mentioned financial and economic ones. As for factors that negatively affect this role, they mentioned a division in American society, the way the latest presidential elections were held and its consequences, and the weakening of the U.S. economy.

As many as 40% of Russians are of the view that the U.S.’ influence in the world has remained roughly unchanged of late.

As concerns the respondents’ opinions about former U.S. President Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden, 36% of those polled said they have negative feelings about both. At the same time, the poll found that significantly more respondents have positive attitudes toward Trump (22%) than toward Biden (12%).

[article also appeared at interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/71152/]

Comment