Russians` attitudes towards the United States are currently at one of the lowest record since the U.S. - led Iraq invasion.

MOSCOW, September 17, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning how Russians perceive the U.S. and assess the U.S. – Russia relations.

 Almost half of Russians (46%) perceive the United States positively today.  At the same time, over the recent months the share of those who treat America negatively has increased (from 30 to 35%). In this context the U.S. perception index has considerably decreased (from 25 to 12 points).

The current figure (12 points) is close to the measurement of 2009 (13 points).

Those who perceive the U.S. most positively are young Russians (58% generally favor the U.S.) and residents of million-cities (64%). Negative attitudes come from respondents aged over 45 (37-38%), residents of middle, small cities and rural area (37-40%).

Remarkably, in general the assessment of the Russia-America relations is stable: the index has been fluctuating within 43-44 points during 2013. The most common view of the Russia-U.S. relations is negative: in particular, 31% call the relationship cool, 19% - tense, 4% - hostile. Thirty-two percent of Russians assess the relationship between the two states as calm; 6% - as good; 4% - as friendly.

The VCIOM opinion polls were conducted on August 24-25, 2013. 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 communities in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

U.S. Perception Index shows how Russians perceive the U.S. today. The higher the value of index is, the better Russians perceive the U.S. The index is based on the question: “What is your current attitude towards the United States?”  The index is calculated as a difference of the sum of positive answers (“good”, “rather good”) and negative answers (“rather bad”, “bad”). The index is measured in points and can vary from -100 to 100.

Perception of U.S. – Russia Interaction Index shows how Russians assess the interaction today. The higher the value of index is, the better Russians assess the interaction between the two states.  The index is based on the question: “How would you assess the current relations between Russia and the U.S.?” The index is calculated as a sum of answers multiplied by the corresponding coefficients: answer “friendly” – multiplied by 1 ; answer “good, neighborly” – multiplied by 0.8; answer “normal, calm” – multiplied by 0.6; answer “cool” – multiplied by 0.4; answers “tense” -  multiplied by 0.2; answer “hostile” - multiplied by 0.01. The index is measured in points and can vary from 0 to 100.

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