Is it possible that 85% of Russians really approve of Russia President Vladimir Putin’s activity? Is it likely that 65% of Russians were willing to use atomic weapons to annex Crimea?
Can one have confidence in studies carried out by a telephone survey? When a Russian is called with a question, whether he/she supports the president, only a fool or protester ready for barricades would answer “no.”
I have discovered two Russian researches testing the same issue present completely opposite results.
According to the research of Levada Center, one of the largest and more credible Russian social research organizations, the share of those who plan to emigrate from Russia at present is 12%, whereas in the spring of 2014, the figure was 17%. The present figure is close to the lowest result in the years of studying the issue! According to the research less Russians were willing to emigrate only in 1994 and 1990 (11%). At the same time, according to this research, the share of those who do not want to leave the Russian Federation for permanent residence somewhere outside the former Soviet Union is now 83%, which is a historical highest. Last yea’s research gave a much smaller figure: 77%.
The web site www.Rabota.ru (“rabota” means “job” in Russian), which is used by those who are trying to find jobs, made it’s own survey on the Russians’ attitude toward emigration. And it had amazing and seemingly implausible results. It is not clear if the respondents of the research were only people searching for jobs or general population. But in either case the tendencies reflected in Rabota.ru research are obviously opposite to the tendencies reflected in the Levada Center research.
Rabota’s survey revealed that the vast majority of respondents would like to emigrate. To the question “Would you like to leave Russia to another country for work and permanent life in the coming year?” 71% of respondents gave an affirmative answer!
Moreover, a minority of these respondents (37%) are already actively preparing for emigration and departure. They make up more than 26% from the total number of respondents. 63% of those wishing to emigrate (45% of the total) said they doubt if they’d manage to achieve their desire.
