Russians want political opposition – poll
Published: 29 October, 2009, 17:37
Edited: 05 November, 2009, 15:18
Seven people out of ten favor the existence of strong political opposition parties and NGOs in Russia, a new poll shows. The number has been growing over years.
In 2002 the idea was supported by 56% of the population, while in October 2009 the number reached 71%, says the Levada Center polling agency. The number of both opponents to opposition and those who could not make up their mind has decreased over this period of time, dropping to 16% and 13% respectively.
The survey also revealed the attitude Russians have to various political parties today.
The favorite in both popularity and lack of disapproval is the United Russia Party, which currently enjoys a majority of seats in the Russian Parliament. Almost 60% of the people surveyed said they viewed it in a positive way, while only 12% voiced a negative attitude.
The Communist Party is the second best in terms of approval with 34% of the vote, but it has a strong opposition, since 21% of respondents said they disapproved of it. This more than Fair Russia’s 15%, but less than the Liberal Democrat’s 28% negative votes. Both these parties seem to have difficulties with reaching voters, since 40% and 44% of respondents said they neither liked nor disliked the LDPR and Fair Russia respectively.
The fourth political party with seats in the parliament is the Right Cause party, a newcomer in Russia’s political life. The public is seemingly not familiar with their work, since 18% of the people surveyed said they never heard about this party, and another 37% said their attitude was neutral – more than the number of supporters and opponents combined. Another 17% failed to express their opinion about the party.
The ever-lasting liberal party Yabloko, which went through internal struggle and lost most of its public support in recent years, is known well in Russia, but has a predictably low approval rating. Only 8% of respondents expressed a positive attitude towards it. The 41% majority said they neither liked nor disliked Yabloko.
Opposition party Solidarity remains mostly unknown to Russians. Only 5% of them said they liked the party and 16% dislike it. The overwhelming majority of the people stated their neutrality to it (32%), have never heard about it (28%), or failed to judge their work at all (19%).
The survey was made in mid October 2009, with 1,600 adult Russians polled. The Levada Center does not specify which residents of what regions in Russia were questioned. The statistical margin of error is no more than 3.4%.
29.10.2009, 16:00
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Perhaps the NGOs are put in the same question with opposition parties, so someone's support for the idea of stronger opposition may be interpreted as (growing) support for NGO activities. Some polling results can be “translated“ the desired way. For instance, the support for demonstrators protesting “falling living standards in Russia“ was painted highly politically as anti – Kremlin, “general mood in society“, whatever someone wishes. The suprising results of such polls usually show in countries where the will of the people does not please the West, and therefore needs to be “corrected“ one way or another.There are some “independent“ polling agencies which are in the business of INFLUENCING the public opinion, through very perfid and well disguised activitiy. It worked in Serbia where, for example, NGOs have 0.01% support and still rule everything. But Russia is not Serbia.
This is the most surpising result. I have never heard of one Russian having anything good to say about NGOs. Even though the number of purely domestic NGOs has been increasing, the level of suspicion is still very high. Since many NGOs used to be fairly militant in their opposition to Russian control of the enconomy, and Russian independent foreign policy --- there is still a strong anti-NGO sentiment accross the board. The opposition in Russia needs to work with the population, and make their case by working at the grass roots. Perhaps, if they fied some really good mayors, and other local officials, they may demostrate their capacity to bring something to the table. As it stands now, much of the opposition is dreaming up their "platforms" on the basis of some political calculations, and hoping to secure funds to get some of their "ideas' accross. Those are not platforms nor ideas. They have ZERO track record in every field known to mankind. Do they think that people should bother to listen to them and their waxing elloquent on all issues known to mankind while never having to actually grapple with any of this in reality? Communist Party needs to get a grip. They have support, bu they need to translate that support in larger local presence, innovative programs on the local level, and constructive negotiation with the majority party to advance their goals. But even their goals are mushy. People may support them due to nostalgia or just rebeliousness of the young. This is not enough. None of these parties have anything to complain about. Many of them had ultirior motives, and have low credibility. A real opposition will one day emerge, but it will have to be equally strong to preseve the country's economic and political independence. Many of these parties just are not serious enough to gain widespread credibility.
October 29, 2009, 17:22, Bianca wrote > This is the most surpising result. I have never heard of one Russian having anything good to say about NGOs. Even though the number of purely domestic NGOs has been increasing, the level of suspicion is still very high. Since many NGOs used to be fairly militant in their opposition to Russian control of the enconomy, and Russian independent foreign policy --- there is still a strong anti-NGO sentiment accross the board.