The 2021 address to the Federal Assembly was less popular than the 2020 address. Older groups of respondents watched the address more than younger respondents. Half of the Russians (54%) who have heard something about the address believe that it will have an impact on life in the country, which is slightly less than last year.
A quarter of Russians (24%) have watched all or nearly all of the President’s Address to the Federal Assembly, another 19% know its content from the news, 29% have heard something about the message, and 29% have heard nothing.
However, the 2021 address was less popular than last year’s. In 2020, 78% knew about the message in one way or another: they watched it, heard about it from the news, or at least heard something. In 2021 the figure was 71%.
| may.03 | may.06 | may.07 | dec.12 | dec.13 | dec.14 | mar.18 | jan.20 | apr.21 | |
| watched the broadcast on television / on the Internet in whole or in part | 18 | 24 | 16 | 11 | 12 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 24 |
| familiar from news reports | 16 | 21 | 16 | 22 | 25 | 39 | 24 | 27 | 19 |
| have heard something | 32 | 25 | 24 | 30 | 29 | 27 | 25 | 27 | 29 |
| have heard nothing of it | 34 | 30 | 43 | 36 | 34 | 17 | 30 | 22 | 29 |
The older groups of respondents were more attentive to the message. More than a third (36%) of respondents aged 55 and older watched the broadcast in full or almost in full. Among respondents aged 18-24, only 6% did so.
Half of all Russians (54%) who have heard anything about the Address believe that it will have a major impact on the country in one way or another. This is slightly less than last year (61%).
The view that the message will have an impact on life in the country is most popular among the older groups of respondents who have heard about the Address: 60% of respondents 55 and older believe that it will, while 34% believe that it will not. The opinions of young people and middle-aged people (people under 40) were equally divided: 48% of respondents believe that the message will have an impact on life in the country; an equal percentage believe that it will not.
This survey was conducted April 22 – 28 2021, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample was comprised of 1614 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the total number of participants along with data from previous surveys.
The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:
3.4% for indicators around 50%
2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%
2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%
1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%
The ANO Levada Center has been included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents. Read the Director of the Levada Center’s statement of disagreement with this decision here.