MOSCOW, March 25, 2004. (RIA Novosti correspondent Nikolai Zherebtsov) - Nearly three quarters of Russians, or 74%, are satisfied with the March 14 presidential election results, i.e. with the landslide victory of Vladimir Putin, who scored 71.31% of votes. 19% of Russian nationals are not happy with the results.
These figures were published on Thursday by Yury Levada's Independent Analytical Centre (formerly known as the Russian Public Opinion Centre, or VTsIOM). On March 18-23, the centre conducted a representative poll of 1,602 people in all the federal districts of Russia. The statistical inaccuracy of such polls is about 3.4%.
It is noteworthy that a similar poll conducted after the 1996 presidential election, when Boris Yeltsin won the vote, some 50% of respondents were pleased with such a result, while 37% of pollees were dissatisfied.
The overwhelming majority of Russians, 87%, said they could freely express their opinions and were not subjected to any pressure whatsoever in the polls. 6% of Russians think the opposite.
