A poll conducted by the Yuri Levada analytical center and published in Novye Izvestia shows that 51% of citizens believe that Russia is moving in the wrong direction and only 38% say that the chosen course is correct. Last January, the correlation was the reverse, with 50% believing the course to be correct, and 37% wrong.
Only a third of Russians, 33%, want the market reforms to continue. Almost half the respondents, 45%, said they had still not adjusted to the changes, while 26% maintain they will never get adjusted. Moreover, 18% said their financial position was good, 54% hard, but tolerable, and 24% said they could no longer tolerate it. Only 14% hope that their financial situation will improve in the near future, while 22% expect it to continue deteriorating.
Almost a quarter of Russians, 24%, are ready to take part in mass protests to promote economic demands. The figure was 17% a year ago. Indeed, 19% are ready to strike. Although 34% approve of the activities of Mikhail Fradkov's government, 61% disapprove of them. The main complaints about the government were that it could not contain price growth (53%), was not attending to social welfare (43%) and was failing to create jobs (34%).
According to Mr. Levada, there was pre-election excitement early this year. And hopes that everything would turn out for the better were high. They started to dissipate due to inflation, price growth and alarm about abolition of benefits. Beslan finally planted anxiety and uncertainty in people's minds. Earlier people feared a total economic collapse. When the decline stopped, the public mood began improving, but then enterprises started modernizing equipment and sacking redundant workers, which led to a surge in the unemployment rate. This is not yet evident in Moscow yet, but it already making itself felt in the regions.
The survey interviewed 3,700 Russians.
