Russians consider Gennady Zyuganov, Leonid Slutsky, Sergei Mironov and Mikhail Khodorkovsky* to be the most prominent opposition politicians. At the same time, opposition-minded citizens more often mention Gennady Zyuganov, Nikolai Bondarenko, Sergei Mironov, Ilya Yashin* and Vladimir Kara-Murza*. Representatives of the parliamentary opposition enjoy the greatest approval of Russians, while politicians such as Yulia Navalnaya**, Mikhail Khodorkovsky*, Grigory Yavlinsky, and Garry Kasparov* ** rank the worst. Among the opposition—minded citizens, such politicians as Gennady Zyuganov, Pavel Grudinin, Leonid Slutsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky* and Yulia Navalnaya** enjoy the greatest confidence; Grigory Yavlinsky, Yulia Navalnaya**, Gennady Zyuganov and Mikhail Khodorkovsky* have the greatest anti-rating. Most of the respondents do not know anything about the opposition protests that took place on November 17 in Berlin and other cities. A neutral attitude towards the participants of these demonstrations prevails among the respondents.

As part of the survey, respondents were asked to name several of the most prominent opposition politicians on their own. More than half of the respondents (57%) did not mention a single name, and another 17% said that there are no opposition politicians in Russia. The proposed formulation of the open question does not imply support for these politicians, but allows us to identify the circle of the most prominent representatives of the Russian opposition. Thus, the most frequently mentioned leaders of the parliamentary opposition were Gennady Zyuganov (5%), Leonid Slutsky (3%), Sergei Mironov (2%), and Mikhail Khodorkovsky* (2%). 1% of respondents mentioned Yulia Navalnaya**, Ilya Yashin*, Grigory Yavlinsky, Nikolai Bondarenko, Ksenia Sobchak, Pavel Grudinin, Boris Nadezhdin, Garry Kasparov* ** and Maxim Kats*.

Among the respondents who believe that things are going in the right direction in the country (who can be classified as supporters of the government with some reservations), Gennady Zyuganov (5%), Leonid Slutsky (3%), Sergei Mironov (2%), and Mikhail Khodorkovsky* (2%) received the most mentions. Yulia Navalnaya** (2%) and Grigory Yavlinsky (2%).

Among the respondents who believe that the country is heading down the wrong path (and who with a certain degree of conventionality can be classified as supporters of the opposition), Gennady Zyuganov (6%), Nikolai Bondarenko (3%), Sergei Mironov (3%), Ilya Yashin* (2%) and Vladimir Kara-Murza* (2%) received the highest number of references.

Regardless of your political sympathies, what are some of the most prominent Russian opposition politicians (among the living)? (%%, open question, top-15 politicians in each category, November 2024)

*recognized as foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

**included in the list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring

The respondents were also asked to express their attitude towards several Russian opposition politicians from the proposed list. This list is not exhaustive (for example, it does not include Sergei Mironov or Nikolai Bondarenko, who were named in the answers to an open question), but it allows us to somehow mark up the existing field of the Russian opposition. The answers to this question allow us to assess which of these politicians is more well-known, more popular, or, conversely, has the highest anti-rating.

The respondents know Gennady Zyuganov best (only 15% said they did not know him), Yulia Navalnaya** (29% do not know), Grigory Yavlinsky (30%), Mikhail Khodorkovsky* (33%), Leonid Slutsky (34%) and Garry Kasparov* ** (35%). The respondents know such politicians as Lev Shlosberg* or Igor Girkin (Strelkov) the least.

At the same time, Gennady Zyuganov (43% approve of his work), Leonid Slutsky (28%), Sakhar Prilepin (21%) and Pavel Grudinin (20%) enjoy the highest approval among all respondents.

Yulia Navalnaya** (53% disapprove of her activities), Mikhail Khodorkovsky* (46%), Grigory Yavlinsky and Garry Kasparov*** (43% each) have the highest anti-rating among the general population. Only three of the above list have a higher proportion of positive responses than negative responses — Gennady Zyuganov (by 15 percentage points), Leonid Slutsky (by 5 percentage points) and Zakhar Prilepin (by 2 percentage points).

In the group of respondents who believe that the country is moving along the wrong path (and therefore closest to potential supporters of the Russian opposition), sympathies are distributed in a slightly different way.

Of the proposed list of politicians, Gennady Zyuganov (30% approve of his activities), Pavel Grudinin (25%), Leonid Slutsky (14%), Mikhail Khodorkovsky* and Yulia Navalnaya** (11% each) and Grigory Yavlinsky (10%) enjoy the highest approval among opposition-minded citizens. Ilya Yashin* is approved by 9%, Boris Nadezhdin – by 8%, Maxim Katz* — by 6%.

Grigory Yavlinsky (46% disapprove of his activities), Yulia Navalnaya** and Gennady Zyuganov (44% each), Mikhail Khodorkovsky* (42%), Leonid Slutsky (39%) and Garry Kasparov* ** (38%) have the highest anti-rating among opposition-minded citizens.

34% of respondents know about the protest actions of the Russian opposition that took place on November 17 in Berlin and other cities of the world (5% followed the events, 29% heard something about them). Two thirds of the respondents did not know about it.

The proportion of those who heard about it for the first time at the time of the survey is higher among women (69%), youth (18-24 years old) – 76%, respondents with secondary and lower secondary education (75%), those who receive information from social networks (70%) and telegram channels (70%) those who believe that the country is moving along the wrong path (69%).

The majority of respondents treat the participants of the protest actions neutrally (51%).  14% of the respondents have a positive attitude, 23% have a negative attitude.

First of all, men (25%) have a negative attitude, older respondents (55 years and older) – 27%, more affluent (can afford durable goods) – 25%, those who receive information from telegram channels – 27%, those who believe that things are going well in the country in the right direction – 25%, those who closely followed the situation (34%).

Men (15%) are most likely to have a positive attitude, older respondents (55 years and older) – 21%, less well–off (barely enough for food) – 20%, those who receive information from YouTube channels – 17%, those who believe that things are going wrong in the country. ways – 25%, those who closely followed the situation (49%).