MINSK, 27 July (BelTA) – An opinion poll published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) suggests that the majority of Russians have a positive attitude towards Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
According to the opinion poll, the attitude to the Belarusian president is the same as the attitude to the country: it is either positive or neutral. More than half of Russians (52%) have a positive attitude to the Belarusian head of state. About a third (35%) said their attitude is neutral and only 9% said they do not like the Belarusian leader.
Emotions that Russians feel towards Aleksandr Lukashenko are mostly positive. Some 34% of respondents said they feel trust towards the Belarusian leader (since 2017, the share of people who responded this way has been stable), as well as liking (18%) and trust (14%). The share of people who feel negative emotions is insignificant. Some of pollees said they feel mistrust (7%, minus 5 percentage points since 2017), disappointment (5%), antipathy (4%) and skepticism (4%).
The assessment of today’s relations between Belarus and Russia is mostly neutral or positive. Some 27% of Russians called these relations normal and calm. According to 15% of Russians, these relations are friendly; another 17% of respondents called them good and good-neighborly. Only 6% of Russians said that the bilateral relations are strained.
The poll was held on 21 July. Taking part in it were 1,600 Russians aged over 18 years. The poll was held by phone. The pollsters used stratified random sampling.