42% of Russians think Putin is not told the whole truth about the situation inside the country: survey

Today, on August 19, Levada Center published results of a public opinion poll conducted in Russia. Just every sixth citizen of Russia is sure that government officials tell the whole truth about the real state of affairs in the economic and social life. Roughly, one third of the population believes that they “sometimes conceal the truth, lie.” 

Most of the polled (41%) think that full and adequate information on the state of affairs in the country is not available to the population. The respondents are skeptical about the state statistical data: 23% trust in the statistical data, 41% ‘partly trust, party not,’ another 32% do not trust in the statistical data. 42% of the Russians are sure that Vladimir Putin is not fully informed of the real state of affairs in the country, while 14% of the population think government officials conceal the truth from the president. Only one third is sure that the president is provided with full and reliable information.

As compared to 2012, the share of the Russians who believe that Vladimir Putin is guilty in the embezzlements, for which his opponents blame him, fell from 16% to 7%. The share of those who do not think that the president has ever abused his power grew from 11% to 22% (effect from the ‘Crimea’ campaign is still felt).  The biggest part of the population is inclined to think that such kind of accusations are quite probable, as media constantly report on corruption and embezzlement at the top echelons of power. However, even the people who share these views are not ready to blame the president openly for abuse of power. They justify their opportunism with such arguments as “under him the country began to live better.”

In general, one two third of the polled (71%) say they are free to express their political views. One tenth of the population says they are afraid to make such assessments openly.

This representative mass survey was conducted among 1,600 people at the age of 18 and above in 134 communities of 46 regions in the period from July 17 to 20, 2015. The results are brought in percentage comparing to the total number of the respondents and with the data of the previous surveys. The statistical error is below 3.4%.