Only 40% of respondents are aware that Americans are electing a new president this year. The candidate that meets Russia`s interests is Barack Obama, rather than Mitt Romney, Russians say.
MOSCOW, October 17, 2012. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning how much Russians are informed about the US presidential elections; whose victory, as Russians think, is more beneficial for Russia.
Fifty-four percent of Russians, in varying degrees, are interested in the electoral campaign in the United States; most of them know for certain when exactly the presidential elections will be held: 40% know that the elections will be held this year. The number of those who wrongly think that the voting will take place next year (12%) or in two years (2%) has decreased. Forty-one percent of respondents recognize that they do not know anything about that.
Those who know that the elections will be held this year are basically supporters of non-parliament parties (62%); whereas the absentees often say that they do not know when the voting will be held (48%).
According to Russian views, the victory of Barack Obama meets national interests of Russia most (42%). Those who think so are mainly supporters of A Just Russia party (49%), Muscovites and St.Petersburgians (51%). Only 4% of respondents are convinced that Russia will benefit more from the victory of Mitt Romney; those who think so are LDPR party supporters (10%). The number of those who think that this question is not important for Russia is high enough (31%); this stance is shared by supporters of non-parliament parties (38%) and residents of million cities (45%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on September 15-16, 2012. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Do you know when the 2012 U.S. presidential elections will take place? (open-ended question, one answer) | ||||||||
| Total respondents | A Just Russia party supporters | LDPR party supporters | Supporters of CPF party | Supporters of United Russia party | Supporters of non-parliament parties | Those who would not take part in elections | Those who failed to express political views |
In 2012 | 40 | 46 | 46 | 38 | 38 | 62 | 37 | 35 |
In 2013 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 |
In 2014 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
I do not know | 41 | 35 | 37 | 44 | 43 | 19 | 48 | 34 |
Other | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hard to tell | 5 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 13 |
In your opinion, whose victory in this election will better serve Russian national interest? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||||
| Total respondents | A Just Russia party supporters | LDPR party supporters | Supporters of CPF party | Supporters of United Russia party | Supporters of non- parliament parties | Those who would not take part in elections | Those who failed to express political views |
Republican candidat Mitt Romney | 4 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
Democratic candidate Barack Obama | 42 | 49 | 37 | 43 | 44 | 46 | 36 | 37 |
It does not matter for Russia | 31 | 33 | 29 | 33 | 31 | 38 | 32 | 28 |
Hard to tell | 22 | 15 | 24 | 20 | 21 | 10 | 29 | 33 |
In your opinion, whose victory in this election will better serve Russian national interest? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||||||
| Total respondents | Moscow and St. Petersburg | Million cities | More than 500 thousand | 100 - 500 thousand | Less than 100 thousand | Rural area |
Republican candidate Mitt Romney | 4 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Democratic candidate Barack Obama | 42 | 51 | 32 | 39 | 44 | 40 | 43 |
It does not matter for Russia | 31 | 32 | 45 | 31 | 32 | 27 | 30 |
Hard to tell | 22 | 11 | 21 | 23 | 21 | 29 | 23 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!