Three decades on from Soviet collapse, nearly HALF of all Russians are not interested in ‘democratic values’ – bombshell new poll

20 Oct, 2021 09:38 / Updated 3 years ago

By Jonny Tickle

More Russians (47%) say they do not hold democratic values than those who do (44%), a new poll has revealed, marking a significant shift from an identical survey taken three years ago by the same organization, the Levada Center.

In 2018, a similar percentage (41%) of those questioned said they hold democratic values, but the number of those who reject these ideals has risen significantly from just 38%, in what the pollster dubbed an “emerging polarization.” The number of people unable to give a specific answer halved.

Of all age groups questioned by Levada, which is registered by Russia’s Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent due to its receipt of Western funding, 18-24 year-olds were most likely to class themselves as democrats (50%).

The poll comes a month after a parliamentary election that saw the ruling United Russia party retain its constitutional majority amid accusations from opposition groups, such as the Communists.

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The survey also asked Russians about other political views, and discovered that only one in five (18%) describe themselves as left-wing, with citizens aged 55 years or older being the most supportive of socialist ideals.

Levada also compared the results of the survey with respondents’ political-party preferences, and found that backers of the Communists and the center-left Fair Russia party are the least likely to classify themselves as democrats, with voters for the newly-founded New People party being the most supportive of democratic ideals.

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