Political activity of Russians has reached a minimum in 17 years – VTsIOM

In 2021, less than a quarter of Russians express their readiness to participate in elections. This is the lowest figure in almost twenty years. At the same time, the citizens of the Russian Federation have a growing interest in public life, it follows from the VTsIOM study “Social and Political Activity of Russians: Monitoring”, for which refers RBC.

This year, only 22% of respondents are ready to exercise their electoral rights. At the same time, in 2004, 55% of the respondents said that they took part in one or another election. Over the past 17 years, the level of political activity has been steadily declining (to 32% in 2006 and 27% in 2011).

Over 17 years, the number of those who conducted election campaigns has also decreased – from 8 to 6%, as well as those who participated in rallies and pickets – from 5 to 3%.

At the same time, compared to previous years, a relatively small number of respondents admitted that they had never participated in public life. If in 2011 there were 61% of them, now it is only 45%. According to the poll, Russians were the most active in public life in 2004 and 2007 (then only 32% and 39%, respectively, said they did not participate in it). Russians behaved most passively in 2006 and 2011: 52 and 61% of respondents did not participate in public and political life. However, 2011 has shown that public attitudes can change rapidly. Already in December 2011, after the elections to the State Duma, a wave of protests began in the country.

Over the past 17 years, the activity of Russians in participating in collective appeals / petitions has doubled (from 4 to 8%), and the number of people involved in collecting funds and things for people in difficult situations has also doubled (from 9 to 20%). Over the past ten years, three times as many people have begun to participate in house committees and local government. The number of Russians participating in public and trade union organizations has also increased significantly. The number of members of religious organizations has grown from 0 to 3% since 2011.

In 2021, Russians most often explained their unwillingness to participate in public and political life by the lack of time (28%), the opinion that only professionals should be involved in politics (20%), and trust in the president of the country (19%). Another 16% are sure that their participation in politics will not change anything. This indicator reached its minimum since 2007: then a third of the respondents were sure that they would not be able to influence the situation in the country in any way.

The minimum number of people since 2007 – only 15% – said that they were not interested in political and public life. In 2007, this opinion was held by 20% of people, in 2011 – 36%. The percentage of Russians who are confident that “decent people have nothing to do” in politics also reached a minimum. Now this opinion is shared by 1% of Russians, in 2011 – 2%, in 2007 – 6%. But the maximum level – 10% – was reached by the number of Russians who say that there are no public organizations and political parties in the country that could be trusted. Earlier, in 2011 and 2007, these were 7 and 6%, respectively.

The poll was conducted on July 11 among 1.6 thousand Russians aged 18 and over. For this sample, the maximum error size with a 95% probability does not exceed 2.5%.