MOSCOW, 22 August 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) conducted a survey among Russians to commemorate Russia’s Day of National Flag.
Russians have positive connotations with the word “Russia”; its semantic field is filled with different topics such as nature, history, architectural symbols, cities, animals, culture, literature, territory, army et cet. Top three most popular associations are national symbols (12%); national, people (11%); motherland, home country (10%). Respondents also mentioned V.Putin and Russian nature, Baikal, birch (7% each). Another 6% perceive the country as a great country, power, and strength. Bear is another popular association (5%). Unity and fraternity, kindness and love, and army and fleet were mentioned by 4% (each). A considerable part of associations deal with historical and political references: freedom and democracy, power and government, justice and honesty (3%, each), victory in Great Patriotic War, domestic policy, peaceful sky (2%, each). At the same time, every third Russian failed to provide any answer to what embodies Russia (27%).
Russia is often associated with home and motherland among older age Russians (15%); young people aged 18-24 mention nation and people (14%), nature (11%) and V.Putin (10%). Men mention “army and fleet” three time more often than women (6% vs. 2%). |
National symbols
Most of Russians experience admiration and pride when they see the national flag (66%), which is a five-point increase compared to 2019. A further 17% say that the national flag evokes liking in them. This percentage showed growth from 2006 to 2017, during the entire period of measurement (with a minimum of 48% in 2007 and a maximum of 71% in 2017).
A majority of Russians say that national coat of arms and anthem also evoke pride and admiration (60% and 70% respectively). Since 2006, there has been a stable switch from liking and indifference to an increased pride and admiration at the sight of national symbols. Compared to 2006, the share of Russians who are indifferent to national coat of arms and anthem has decreased about 1.5-fold or even halved. Only 3% of Russians have negative associations with the Russian national symbols.
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VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 12 August, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews using a stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted according to social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
August 12, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: 1,600 respondents, cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8439; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0226; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1678. Calculations based on corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
August 5, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: 1,600 respondents, cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8275; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0213; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1696. Calculations based on corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.
** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.
***RR: RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
Let’s change the topic. What embodies Russia, what is its symbol for you? (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2022 |
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Russian coat of arms / anthem / flag | 12 |
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People / nation / Russian man | 11 |
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My home country / my house / my country | 10 |
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V.V.Putin | 7 |
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Nature / birches / Baikal / fields | 7 |
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Great power / great country / power / strength | 6 |
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Bear | 5 |
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Unity of people / cohesion / fraternity | 4 |
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Kindness/ friendliness / love / humanity | 4 |
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Army and fleet | 4 |
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Large country / big territory / our land | 3 |
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Justice / honesty / faithfulness | 3 |
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Culture / Russian literature / matryoshka / Russian language / mentality | 3 |
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Freedom / democracy / laws | 3 |
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Power / government / right policies of the government | 3 |
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Resources / natural resources / mineral resources | 2 |
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Our history / victory in the Great Patriotic War | 2 |
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Soviet Union / red flag / hammer and sickle | 2 |
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Family / children, grandchildren / close ones / family values | 2 |
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Domestic policy / striving / Russian cities / Constitution | 2 |
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Peace / peaceful sky / peace-loving | 2 |
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Res Square / Kremlin / Moscow | 2 |
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Russian soul / strong spirit / firmness | 2 |
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The entire country / Russia itself | 2 |
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Multinational people | 2 |
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Traditions / mentality | 2 |
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Other | 15 |
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Don’t know | 27 |
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What feelings do you have when you see/hear Russian national symbols? National flag (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||||||
| 2006* | 2007* | 2008* | 2009* | 2012* | 2013* | 2014* | 2015* | 2017** | 2019** | 2022 |
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Pride, admiration | 49 | 48 | 52 | 52 | 54 | 49 | 58 | 67 | 71 | 61 | 66 |
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Liking | 26 | 24 | 28 | 29 | 28 | 34 | 30 | 16 | 16 | 23 | 17 |
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Indifference, no feeling | 20 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 11 |
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Antipathy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
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Irritation, shame | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
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Don’t know | 2 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
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What feelings do you have when you see/hear Russian national symbols? Coat of arms (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||||||||
| 2006* | 2007* | 2008* | 2009* | 2012* | 2013* | 2014* | 2015* | 2017** | 2019** | 2022 |
Pride, admiration | 47 | 46 | 47 | 49 | 52 | 49 | 57 | 69 | 72 | 57 | 60 |
Liking | 26 | 23 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 32 | 30 | 16 | 11 | 23 | 20 |
Indifference, no feeling | 21 | 21 | 21 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 14 |
Antipathy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Irritation, shame | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Don’t know | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
What feelings do you have when you see/hear Russian national symbols? National anthem (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||||||||
| 2006* | 2007* | 2008* | 2009* | 2012* | 2013* | 2014* | 2015* | 2017** | 2019** | 2022 |
Pride, admiration | 53 | 53 | 56 | 56 | 58 | 54 | 59 | 72 | 75 | 64 | 70 |
Liking | 24 | 20 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 30 | 30 | 13 | 13 | 21 | 16 |
Indifference, no feeling | 17 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 9 |
Antipathy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Irritation, shame | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Don’t know | 2 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
* In 2006 — 2016, household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project) were carried out; stratified multi-stage sample based on socio-demographic parameters was used; surveys were representative of the Russian population aged 18 and older based on settlement type, gender, age, education, and federal district. Sample size: 1,600.
** In 2017 and 2019: VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey; sample size in 2017 — 600 respondents; sample size in 2019 – 1,600 respondents