Every third Russian expects that Putin’s meeting with Trump will bring positive results.

MOSCOW, July 9, 2018. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of a survey devoted to the Russia-U.S. relationship and the meeting between Putin and Trump.

Public assessments of the bilateral relationship are worse than a year ago: the corresponding index fell from -44 in July 2017 to the current -74 p.; negative assessments are still dominant. Every second Russian (49%) points to tensions; a further 26% think the relationships are chilly. Only 1-2% of respondents mention good-neighborliness and friendship.  

An overwhelming majority (71%) consider that at the upcoming meeting Trump will make an attempt to strengthen his country’s position at the expense of others. On the contrary, 62% of Russians believe that Vladimir Putin will seek solutions to the problems between the two countries and prospects for rapprochement.

More than half of Russians (56%) do not expect any substantial changes after the Trump's one-on-one meeting with Putin. Every third (33%) expects positive and only 1% negative results. Fifty-four percent of Russians also do not expect any changes in the bilateral relationship in the next two to three years. A quarter of respondents (25%) hope for improvements, while 9% forecast deterioration. 

Russians tend to view the U.S. negatively: 26% have “negative” attitudes towards the United States; 14% see the country “very negatively”. However this share has considerably decreased over the recent four years: the 2014 data suggest that 66% of respondents had negative perceptions. The basic reasons behind that are the U.S. foreign policy and interference in other countries’ affairs (37%) and poor attitudes toward Russia (34%). Twenty- nine percent of respondents have positive views of the U.S.

*Russia-U.S. Relations Index describes how Russians assess the current state of the bilateral relationship. The Index is based on the question “How would you assess the current U.S.-Russia relationship?” It is calculated as the sum of positive answers (“normal, calm”, “good good-neighborly”, “friendly”) and negative answers (“chilly”, “tense”, “hostile”), measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100. The higher the index, the better Russians assess the bilateral relationships.

The VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on July 5, 2018, and involved 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over. The survey was telephone-based and carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and 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 in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

The 2016 results are based on household surveys. The 2017 results are based on a VCIOM-Sputnik survey.

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