MOSCOW, May 5, 2009. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data on how Russians evaluate the recent developments in Moldova and whether they think that such unrest can happen in Russia.
Evidently, over two thirds of Russians (64%) are "well aware" (22%) or "have heard something" (42%) about the riots in Moldova. A third part of respondents (35%) say that they have heard about that only from interviewers.
The responses were: it was an attempt "to overthrow the present power" in Moldova (24%), "coup prepared by foreign special services" (20%), or "mass protests against the falling living standards" (9%). The first two statements are mostly shared by CPRF party supporters (32% and 27% respectively), the third one is often expressed by Democrats (27% are adherents of such parties as "Yabloko" and "Pravoe Delo"). The versions about the provocations of Romania and U.S. special services are the least popular answers: a small percentage of respondents think so (excepting supporters of LDPR who more often than other Russians think that riots that took place in Moldova was Romanians` malice aforethought (11%)). 40% of Russians were undecided: most of them are Democrats and "United Russia" party supporters. Nevertheless, the older the respondents are, the more often they tend to think that riots were organized by Americans (13% of respondents aged 60 and above against 7-8% of those aged from 18 to 34 years old) or Romanian special services (22% of respondents aged above 60 against 5% among 18-24-year-old respondents).
Only 7% of Russians are confident that such riots can take place in Russia as well. Those who have doubts more than others are residents of Central (62%), Far-Eastern (58%) and Southern (53%) Federal Districts.
52% of Russians consider that there is no one in Russia who could initiate the riots; 20% think that riots can be organized by the opposition, 12% - by the desperate people, 8% - by foreign services, 5% - by the youth and 2% - by the unemployed. Unemployment (24%) and low living standards (35%) are the main possible reasons for such actions in Russia. At the same time the Moldova scenario can hardly happen in Russia due to the "tolerance and peaceableness» of Russians and stability in the country.
The initiative Russian opinion poll was conducted on April 25-26, 2009.
1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia.
The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
There have been recent riots in Moldova. Do you know anything about that? (close-ended question, one answer) | |
well aware | 22 |
heard something about it | 42 |
first heard of it | 35 |
hard to tell | 1 |
Some people say that these riots were the protest of people against Communist election victory. The others say that was conspiracy, attempted ‘coup d`etat' prepared by foreign special services. There are some other versions. What happened in Moldova from your point of view? (open-ended question, not more than three answers) | ||||||
|
| supporters of political parties | ||||
| total respondents | "United Russia" | CPRF | LDPR | "Fair Russia" | Democtrats ("Pravoe Delo"+Yabloko"
|
civil disturbances | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
mass actions of protests against falling living standards | 9 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
riot, conspiracy, attempt to overthrow the present power | 24 | 24 | 32 | 17 | 28 | 0 |
provocation made by Romanians | 4 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 7 |
provocation made by the U.S. | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
coup prepared by foreign special services | 20 | 19 | 27 | 28 | 22 | 7 |
other | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
hard to tell | 40 | 41 | 27 | 35 | 34 | 47 |
In you opinion, who initiated these actions? (open-ended question, no more than three answers) | ||||||
| total respondents | age, years | ||||
18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 and above | ||
Americans | 11 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 13 |
internal opposition (democrats) | 5 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
foreign special services | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 9 |
local youth organizations | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
authorities themselves, Government of Moldova, Voronin | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
Romanian special services | 13 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 22 |
Moldavians, people that are not satisfied with the situation in the country | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
other | 1 | 2 |
| 1 |
| 2 |
hard to tell | 52 | 63 | 53 | 61 | 48 | 47 |
In your opinion, are such riots possible in Russia?
| ||||||||
| total respondents | Federal Districts* | ||||||
CFO | NWFD | SFD | PFD | UFD | SFD | DFD | ||
certainly possible | 7 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 5 |
likely possible | 25 | 19 | 34 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 25 | 10 |
likely not possible | 38 | 44 | 33 | 43 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 35 |
certainly impossible | 13 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 23 |
hard to tell | 17 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 18 | 23 | 20 | 28 |
*Abbreviations CFD - Central Federal District NWFD - North-Western Federal District SFD - Southern Federal District PFD - Volga Federal District UFD - Urals Federal District SFD - Siberian Federal District DFD - Far-Eastern Federal District
| ||||||||
In your opinion, who could initiate mass protests in Russia similar to those happened in Moldova? (open-ended question, any number of answers) | |||||
| total respondents | education | |||
elementary, or lower, incomplete secondary education
| secondary (school, technical college) | Secondary special (college) | Incomplete higher (not less than 3 years), higher | ||
unemployed | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
desperate people | 12 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 17 |
foreign special services | 8 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 13 |
political parties, opposition | 20 | 5 | 21 | 18 | 28 |
youth | 5 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 4 |
other | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | 6 |
hard to tell | 52 | 77 | 59 | 51 | 32 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM,
the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!