Russians have greatly changed their opinion of US President Donald Trump over the past year, with nearly a half of them now thinking negatively of him, Russian sociologists have found.
According to the latest research conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 46 percent of Russian citizens have expressed a negative opinion of the US leader. The findings are based on interviews with 1,500 Russian citizens, conducted across the country late in November.
The fresh figures record nearly a twofold growth compared to the FOM’s poll conducted last June, when only 25 percent of respondents viewed Trump negatively. 13 percent of the respondents have expressed a positive opinion of the US leader, while 41 percent were indifferent. Favorable views of Trump among Russians tanked twofold as well; last year 24 percent of Russians thought well of him.
The general attitude to the US as a whole has gone downward as well over the past year, the FOM study indicates. Only 11 percent of respondents viewed the country in a positive light, while a half of them are indifferent. Nearly 70 percent of Russians believe that, overall, the US plays a bad role in the modern world, while only seven percent think the opposite.
The results of the poll are hardly surprising, given the rocky relationship between the two countries – and the impressive amount of anti-Russian sanctions Washington produced under the Trump administration. Still, 63 percent of respondents believe that Moscow should try and mend the relations with the US.
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