Russians readying to celebrate Victory Day – poll

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 7, 2013) Victory Day is one of the most significant holidays in Russia that enjoys mass support, Levada Center sociologists told Interfax quoting surveys of many years.

The overwhelming majority of Russians, 70-75%, celebrated the Victory Day one way or another in the past three years, which was more than the number of Russians celebrating the May 1 holiday (52-59%).

Russians aged 40-55 (73%) and older than 55 (72%), residents of provincial towns with less than 100,000 residents (80%) and voters of Vladimir Zhirinovsky (77%), Gennady Zyuganov (75%) and Vladimir Putin (74%) tend to celebrate the Victory Day more than other respondents.

The sociologists asked about the main results of World War Two. Russians pointed to the liquidation of the Nazi regime (69%) and liberation of Europe from the Nazi occupation (54%).

Most of the respondents (61%) believe the Soviet Union could have won World War Two without assistance from its allies (23% stick to the opposite view).

The opinion that the USSR could win a solo victory is mostly maintained by Russians older than 40 (62%), people with higher education (64%), residents of towns with less than 100,000 population (76%), supporters of Zyuganov (73%) or Putin (64%) .

The opinion that assistance from the allies was vital for the victory was mostly suggested by Russians aged 25-40 (35%), people with secondary professional education (35%), and supporters of Zhirinovsky (57%), Mikhail Prokhorov and Sergei Mironov (41% for each).