More than half of Russians are for Medvedev's resignation. Almost half of Russians support Medvedev's possible resignation. The Kremlin intends to study survey data about Medvedev

Almost half of Russians - 45% of respondents - to one degree or another support the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. These conclusions follow from an April survey by the Levada Center.

Dmitry Medvedev (Photo: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

18% of respondents are “definitely in favor” of Dmitry Medvedev’s resignation, 27% are “rather in favor,” according to a Levada Center survey conducted on April 7-10 (see chart).

Since May last year, confidence in the prime minister has gradually declined. According to the survey, 14% “fully trusted” the prime minister in May 2016, 9% in December, and only 3% in April of this year. The number of “mostly trusted” respondents during the same time decreased from 39 to 30%. The number of respondents who “mostly do not trust” the prime minister increased from 30% in May last year to 33% in April this year. The number of respondents who “do not trust at all” the head of government also increased - from 14 to 19%, respectively.

In recent years, respondents have increasingly expressed a negative attitude towards the prime minister. The number of respondents expressing “sympathy” for the prime minister has decreased (from 12% in 2013 to 8% in April 2017). The number of respondents who “cannot say anything bad about him” fell over four years from 29 to 21%. The number of respondents expressing “antipathy” towards the head of government increased from 5 to 9%, and “disgust” from 2 to 4%.

Medvedev’s rating fell due to the investigation of the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) Alexei Navalny, the increase in internal economic problems and the diminishing effect of the “post-Crimean consensus,” Levada Center sociologist Stepan Goncharov told RBC. According to him, respondents attribute “deplorable” results of domestic policy to Medvedev.

Protests were held in dozens of Russian cities on March 26, announced by opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The events were held under anti-corruption slogans, most of which were dedicated to Medvedev’s property. The investigative film “He’s Not Dimon” tells that the Russian Prime Minister owns “huge tracts of land in the most elite areas, manages yachts, apartments in old mansions, agricultural complexes and wineries in Russia and abroad.”

In Moscow alone, as a result of the unauthorized rally on March 26, more than a thousand people. On the day of the release of the FBK film, the press secretary of the head of government, Natalya Timakova, said that the investigation was of a “clearly pre-election nature” and it was pointless to talk about “attacks by an opposition and convicted character.” Medvedev, a month after the release of the FBK film “Kompotom”, Navalny’s investigation into his property.

RBC's source in the government apparatus refused to comment on the sociology of the Levada Center due to the “lack of dynamics on the issue of the prime minister’s resignation.” The source noted that the government’s rating is traditionally lower than the president’s, because all unpopular economic decisions are made by the White House.,>

The Levada Center measures attitudes toward Medvedev’s personality, and not attitudes toward the work of the prime minister, so the study shows elements of a “formative survey,” political scientist Konstantin Kalachev commented to RBC. According to him, the researchers show some bias and put pressure on the emotions of the respondents, since the questions are structured exactly as necessary to obtain the worst result. “But in any case, the numbers are alarming. The key issue is resignation. It seems that the attacks on Medvedev have achieved their goal,” Kalachev concludes.

If sociologists had asked respondents to evaluate the work of the government and its head, the result could have been a little better, the political scientist believes. ​Respondents are unlikely to distinguish between Medvedev as a prime minister and as a person, because “nobody knows him as an ordinary person,” Goncharov retorts.

The attitude towards the prime minister can be described as neutral-indifferent; he does not evoke great emotions among respondents, political scientist Abbas Gallyamov commented to RBC. He connects this attitude towards the prime minister with the specifics of his position. “His work is quite routine and does not involve raging passions and bright pictures. Especially in a situation where there is less and less money in the economy, which means people have to be refused more and more often. The fact that trust in Medvedev has been declining for quite a long time suggests that this is a systemic problem, and not the result of one attack by Navalny,” says Gallyamov.

In his opinion, the film and the protests against the prime minister here only became catalysts for the growth of negativity towards the prime minister. “The fact that there are now noticeably more supporters of the prime minister’s resignation than her opponents, despite the fact that there are very few people who have openly negative emotions towards him, speaks of a new quality of public demand. Now people just want renewal, they are waiting for something fresh and unknown,” says the political scientist.

The Levada Center study was conducted at home using the method of personal interviews on a representative all-Russian sample of urban and rural populations among 1.6 thousand people aged 18 years and older in 137 settlements in 48 regions of the country.

With the participation of Igor Moiseev

Citizens' trust and sympathy for the prime minister is declining. The fall in the rating of the head of the Cabinet of Ministers is associated, among other things, with the appearance of an investigative film by the Anti-Corruption Foundation of oppositionist Alexei Navalny, “He’s Not Dimon to You,” which told about the secret possessions of the prime minister
Global Look Press

Almost half of Russians (45%) to one degree or another support the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. At the same time, citizens' trust and sympathy for the prime minister is declining. The fall in the rating of the head of the Cabinet of Ministers is associated, in particular, with the appearance of an investigative film by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) of oppositionist Alexei Navalny "He's not Dimon", who spoke about the prime minister’s secret possessions.

According to a survey by Levada Center, 18% of respondents are “definitely in favor” of Medvedev’s resignation, and 27% are “rather in favor.” At the same time, the share of those who are opposed to his departure from office to varying degrees is 33%, RBC reports, citing the results of a sociological study.

Over the past year, trust in the head of government has gradually declined. According to the survey, in May 2016, 14% of respondents “completely trusted” the prime minister, in December - 9%, in April 2017 - only 3%. The number of those who “mostly trusted” during the same period decreased from 39% to 30%. At the same time, the number of respondents who “mostly do not trust” Medvedev increased from 30% in May last year to 33% in April of this year. The number of citizens who “do not trust the prime minister at all” increased from 14% to 19%, respectively.

Moreover, the prime minister has become less sympathetic to Russians. The number of respondents expressing “sympathy” for Medvedev decreased from 12% in 2013 to 8% in April 2017. The number of respondents who “cannot say anything bad about him” has dropped from 29% to 21% over four years. The number of citizens expressing “antipathy” to Medvedev increased from 5% to 9%. The number of people feeling “disgusted” increased from 2% to 4%.

The Levada Center survey was conducted on April 7-10 at home using the personal interview method on a representative all-Russian sample of urban and rural populations among 1.6 thousand people aged 18 years and older in 137 settlements in 48 regions of the country.

Press Secretary of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Natalya Timakova, commenting on the results of a poll on the attitude of Russians to the activities of the head of government, said that her boss “does not attach much importance to the data of sociological surveys, especially those conducted by the Levada Center for a very specific political order.”

Levada Center director Lev Gudkov, in turn, called Timakova’s statement a “stupid reaction.” According to the head of the center, the rating of the head of the Cabinet has been declining “for a very long time.” Gudkov said that Levada Center employees “conducted a survey on the attitude of Russian citizens towards the prime minister at their own expense and on their own initiative.”

“We have been constantly conducting this kind of research in relation to Medvedev since the beginning of his election campaign,” added the head of the research organization. Gudkov also called on Timakova to apologize for her harsh statement about the “political order” allegedly carried out by Levada Center.

The press secretary of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, however, refused to respond to Gudkov's request. “I would not like to enter into an absentee polemic with the leadership of Levada,” the Dozhd TV channel quotes her as saying.

According to Levada Center sociologist Stepan Goncharov, Medvedev’s rating fell due to the FBK investigation, growing internal economic problems and reducing the effect"post-Crimean consensus". Respondents attribute “deplorable” domestic policy results to the prime minister, the expert believes.

At the same time, political scientist Konstantin Kalachev saw in the Levada Center study elements of a “formative survey”, since sociologists measure attitudes towards Medvedev’s personality, and not towards the work of the prime minister, and the questions are structured exactly as needed to obtain the worst result. “But in any case, the figures are alarming. The key issue is resignation. It seems that the attacks on Medvedev have achieved their goal,” the expert concluded.

At the same time, political scientist Abbas Gallyamov believes that the progressive decline in Medvedev’s rating cannot be considered the result of just “one attack by Navalny.” “The fact that trust in Medvedev has been declining for quite a long time suggests that this is a systemic problem, and not the result of one attack by Navalny,” said an RBC source. According to Gallyamov, the fact that there are more supporters of Medvedev’s resignation than opponents, but very few respondents who have openly negative emotions towards him, suggests that “people just want renewal, they are waiting for something fresh and unknown.”

The Kremlin intends to study survey data about Medvedev

The Kremlin promised to study survey data on Russians’ attitude to Medvedev’s activities, TASS reports. “We will probably need time to analyze these (social survey) data,” said Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov. According to him, the presidential administration “always pays close attention to sociology, but with certain tolerances.”

Peskov added that the economic situation in the country is quite complex and “the government bears the burden of making many decisions related to the operational management of the economy.” “Of course, a certain volatility in sociological data may occur,” the Kremlin spokesman noted.

According to a survey published last week by the Public Opinion Foundation, as of April 16, 65% of Russians were ready to vote for the current Russian President Vladimir Putin if the presidential elections were held this coming Sunday. 38% of respondents expressed unconditional trust in the head of the Russian Federation, 8% expressed unconditional distrust. 79% of respondents rate Putin's work as president well, 13% - poorly.

According to results published in early April survey Levada Center, in March of this year, Medvedev showed the lowest rating among the population since 2006. It turned out that only 42% of respondents approve of the Prime Minister’s activities, 57% do not approve. Thus, Medvedev’s rating dropped this year to a historic low, since the level of approval of his activities never fell below 50%.

Moreover, within a month after the release of the FBK investigation, Medvedev’s approval rating for his activities fell by 10%. During the same period doubled and the number of people willing to vote for Navalny in the presidential election reached 10%.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation's film "He's Not Dimon to You" was published on YouTube March 2 this year and has already received almost 20 million views. The investigation talks about luxury real estate, land plots, yachts, agricultural complexes and wineries, which, according to FBK, are secretly at the disposal of the prime minister.

As stated in the film, the wealth of the head of the Cabinet of Ministers was purchased with “donations” from oligarchs and loans from state banks acquired through the network non-profit foundations, controlled by Medvedev's classmates. In total, at least 70 billion rubles were received through this scheme, FBK found out.

The anti-corruption foundation's film about Medvedev's "secret empire" became the reason for mass rallies against corruption, which took place in Moscow and dozens of other cities in the country on March 26 and resulted in the detention of many participants in these events. Not only administrative but also criminal cases were opened against the protesters. Already received information regarding arrests during rallies first complaint to the ECHR.

Medvedev himself for the first time commented FBK film only a month after its release. He called the foundation's investigation "nonsense", "some kind of paperwork" and "compote", behind which lies an attempt to drag people out onto the streets, to achieve political and "selfish" goals.

Almost half of Russians – 45% – support the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. This is reported by sociologists from the Levada Center, who conducted a corresponding survey. 18% of respondents answered that they were “definitely in favor” of resignation, another 27% said that they were “rather in favor.” 25% of respondents were “rather against”, 8% were “definitely against”. Another 25% of respondents found it difficult to answer.

In recent years, respondents have increasingly expressed a negative attitude towards the prime minister. The number of respondents expressing “sympathy” for the prime minister has decreased (from 12% in 2013 to 8% in April 2017). The number of respondents who “cannot say anything bad about him” fell over four years from 29 to 21%. The number of respondents expressing “antipathy” towards the head of government increased from 5 to 9%, and “disgust” from 2 to 4%.

Medvedev’s rating fell due to the investigation of the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) Alexei Navalny, the increase in internal economic problems and the diminishing effect of the “post-Crimean consensus,” Levada Center sociologist Stepan Goncharov told RBC. According to him, respondents attribute “deplorable” results of domestic policy to Medvedev.

Timakova, in turn, told Dozhd that she “would not like to enter into an absentee polemic with the leadership of Levada.” She did not apologize.

On the night of April 27, Bloomberg, citing several unnamed sources close to the Kremlin, reported that the Prime Minister is now more concerned about his political future than ever before.

The Kremlin will study the results of a Levada Center survey on Russians’ attitude to the idea of ​​Medvedev’s resignation, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. According to research figures published on April 26, 45% of respondents to some extent support the idea of ​​changing the government. Experts believe that for political reasons this is not yet possible.

“The Kremlin is attentive to sociology, but it will take time to analyze the data, according to which just under half of Russians are in favor of the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev,” commented Dmitry Peskov.

Earlier, the results of a survey by the sociological service Levada Center became known, according to which 18% of respondents were “definitely in favor” of Medvedev’s resignation, and 27% of Russians were “rather in favor”. The survey was conducted from April 7 to April 10 using standard methods - personal interviews with 1.6 thousand people in 137 settlements in 48 regions of Russia.

Compared to the previous study, the Prime Minister's rating has decreased significantly. In May 2016, 14% of respondents “completely trusted” the Prime Minister; in April of this year, the number of such Russians dropped to 3%. The percentage of respondents who “do not trust at all” increased from 14 to 19%.

Such results may be associated both with the unsatisfactory state of affairs in the economy and with the publication in the spring of 2017 of an investigation by the opposition Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) against the Prime Minister and the subsequent protests. According to open statistics, the film about the investigation was watched by almost 20 million people.

Levada Center specialist Stepan Goncharov is inclined to associate the sharp drop in the Prime Minister’s rating not only with the FBK’s attack on Medvedev and the increase in internal economic problems, but also with the decreasing role of the “post-Crimean consensus” factor.

“Of course, Alexei Navalny’s publication played a key role, but since the middle of last year the government’s rating has gradually declined. This is due to the economic situation, the conflict in Ukraine, and Navalny’s investigation only worsened this trend,” the sociologist commented.

He also expressed the opinion that Dmitry Peskov’s words regarding the survey mean that the Kremlin will check the data and order a corresponding study from VTsIOM.

“If we use the same wording as ours, the survey will show a similar result,” Goncharov believes.

The press secretary of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Natalya Timakova, stated that the survey was politically biased. According to her, “the Prime Minister does not attach much importance to the data of opinion polls, especially those conducted by the Levada Center for a very specific political order.”

On March 2, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), headed by Alexei Navalny, published a written investigation and its video presentation “He’s not Dimon to you” about the property of Dmitry Medvedev.

“Dmitry Medvedev owns huge tracts of land in the most elite areas, manages yachts, apartments in old mansions, agricultural complexes and wineries in Russia and abroad,” the foundation said in a statement.

Alexei Navalny’s website notes that this is the largest investigation in the history of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.

According to the investigation, Dmitry Medvedev allegedly owns and manages several real estate properties through social non-profit funds. Among these objects, Navalny named a residence in Pleso, Ivanovo region, on Rublevskoye Highway in the Moscow region, a residence and agricultural firm in the village of Mansurovo, Kursk region, as well as vineyards in the Krasnodar Territory and Italian Tuscany. In addition, FBK classified Medvedev’s real estate as the Official Reception House on the Neva embankment in St. Petersburg and the Psekhako residence in the Krasnodar Territory.

The source of financing for the above funds, according to Navalny, are donations from “raw materials oligarchs” and huge bank loans.

“The Prime Minister and his trusted people created a criminal scheme based not on offshore companies, as is often the case, but on non-profit foundations,” the oppositionist’s investigation said.

However, Navalny did not provide direct evidence of Medvedev’s connection with these funds. The main basis for the conclusions of the FBK investigation was that the leadership of the funds includes a classmate and longtime friend of the Prime Minister, Ilya Eliseev.

In response to the publication of the investigation, the Prime Minister's press secretary Natalya Timakova said that the FBK pursues political goals.

“Navalny’s material has a clearly pre-election character, as he himself says at the end of the video. It makes no sense to comment on the propaganda attacks of an opposition and convicted character who said that he is already waging some kind of election campaign and is fighting the authorities,” Timakova said.

The FBK investigation served as the reason for Navalny to hold anti-corruption rallies throughout Russia on March 26. They were coordinated in 24 cities of the country, but the Moscow authorities refused to coordinate the action in the city center and proposed holding it in Sokolniki or Lyublino. Nevertheless, the organizers held a procession in the city center on Tverskaya Street. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 500 people were detained at an unauthorized rally in Moscow, among whom was Alexei Navalny himself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the rallies during his speech at the plenary session of the forum “The Arctic - Territory of Dialogue” on March 30. The head of state recalled that unauthorized protests marked the beginning of the “Arab Spring” and the coup d’etat in Ukraine. Putin noted that the fight against corruption must be waged, but using this topic to achieve any political goals is unacceptable.

“The only thing I think is wrong: if some political forces are trying to use this tool for their own selfish purposes, not to improve the situation in the country, but for self-promotion in the political arena on the eve of some political events, including election campaigns within the country ", the president said then.

Medvedev himself commented on the FBK charges brought against him on April 4. Then he called the investigation itself a “compote.”

“They pick up all sorts of crap there, collect all sorts of nonsense about me, people I know, people I’ve never even heard of. They collect some pieces of paper, photographs, clothes, and then create such a product and present it,” Medvedev answered a question about the investigation during a visit to the Tambov food plant.

During the head of government’s speech with his annual report to the State Duma, a deputy from the Communist Party faction asked Medvedev a question about how he could “defend himself from Navalny’s attacks.” In response to this, Medvedev asked the communists to refrain from discussing the actions of “political crooks,” and called Navalny’s film itself “an absolutely false product.”

Political scientist Abbas Gallyamov believes that resignation is inevitable, but avoids giving specific dates.

“Sooner or later, Medvedev’s resignation will happen. Protest sentiment among the population is not yet so great, but is gradually growing.

Putin himself does not like to make decisions under pressure, and if the government is dismissed, it must be done with maximum efficiency, with a clearly formulated course for both himself and the voters,” the expert shared his thoughts.

Medvedev’s resignation in the near future, according to the political scientist, will give Navalny political points. The most likely time for a decision on Medvedev may be the end of the presidential election campaign.

“The decision to dissolve the government could be the final touch of the presidential election campaign or even take place after its end in order to begin a new presidential term with the presentation of the new government. Now this would play into Navalny’s hands and would look like his victory. It is not Navalny who should dismiss the government, but Putin,” Gallyamov added.

*****

Dmitry Medvedev

26.04.2017, 13:07

The survey was conducted on April 7–10, 2017 on a representative all-Russian sample of the urban and rural population among 1,600 people aged 18 years and older in 137 settlements in 48 regions of the country. The study is conducted at the respondent's home using personal interviews. The distribution of answers is given as a percentage of the total number of respondents.

The statistical error with a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:

3.4% for rates close to 50%

2.9% for rates close to 25% / 75%

2.0% for rates close to 10% / 90%

1.5% for rates close to 5% / 95%

WHAT WORDS COULD YOU INDICATE YOUR ATTITUDE TO DMITRY MEDVEDEV? (one answer)

TO WHAT DO YOU TRUST DMITRY MEDVEDEV?

WOULD YOU NOW BE FOR OR AGAINST SENDING THE CHAIRMAN OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV TO RESIGN?