A grassroots conservatism? Taking a fine-grained view of conservative attitudes among Russians

Figures & data

Table 1. Levada Center – Russians’ main feelings, 2003–2018. Answer to the question “Which feelings appear and reinforce among people around you these last years?” (multiple answers possible).

	1999	2003	2006	2010	2012	2014	2016	2018
Tiredness, indifference	52	40	33	33	32	25	31	34
Hope	10	30	34	34	30	25	22	34
Fear	29	15	13	11	13	12	10	16
Despair	37	14	13	10	10	9	12	16
Trust in tomorrow	3	11	15	12	10	7	7	15
Feeling of self-fulfilment	3	11	16	14	13	12	8	12
Feeling of freedom	4	14	14	12	13	6	5	10
Responsibility for what is happening in the country	2	4	9	7	4	7	6	8

Source: Levada (2018c).

Table 2. Levada Center – Views on abortion, 1998–2015.

	1998	2015
Should be authorised and left to women to decide	65	51
Should be authorised only in some circumstances	18	35
Should be forbidden entirely	5	3
Difficult answering	12	11

Source: Levada Center (2015b).

Table 3. Levada Center – “Do you agree or disagree that if a couple cannot solve its family issues, divorce is the best solution?” 2002–2018.

	2002	2012	2018
Fully agree	16	9	12
Partly agree	35	26	32
Disagree	25	21	28
Totally disagree	4	6	11
Neither one or the other	15	28	12
Difficult to answer	5	11	6

Source: Levada Center 2018.

Figure 1. Russia’s “normalisation”: Marriage-to-divorce ratio, 1990–2017. Source: World Values Survey.

Figure 2. Russia’s “normalisation”: Abortions-to-births ratio, 1992–2016. Source: World Values Survey.

Table 4. Russians’ view on several societal and moral issues.

Do you agree … When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women
Agree	33
Disagree	63
Don’t know/No answer	4
Do you agree … On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do
Agree	49
Disagree	47
Don’t know/No answer	4
Do you agree … In the family, parents should share the job of childcare equally
Agree	94
Disagree	5
Don’t know/No answer	1
Do you agree … A child needs a home with both a father and a mother to grow up happily
Agree	92
Disagree	7
Don’t know/No answer	1
Do you agree … Marriage should be only between a man and a woman
Agree	89
Disagree	13
Don’t know/No answer	5
Do you agree … To beat children
Agree	45
Disagree	52
Don’t know/No answer	3
Do you agree … For a man to beat his wife or girlfriend
Agree	3
Disagree	97
Don’t know/No answer	8
Do you agree … Individuals should be allowed to have sex before marriage
Agree	56
Disagree	37
Don’t know/No answer	8
What do you think is the ideal size of the family – how many children, if any?
0 None	0
1 child	3
2 children	38
3 children	38
4 children	6
5 or more children	10

Source: LegitRuss survey, Spring 2021, to be available at the end of the grant project in 2024 at https://www.hf.uio.no/ilos/english/research/projects/value-based-regime-legitimation-in-russia/index.html.

Table 5. Levada Center – Which of the following statements on the death penalty do you agree with?

	2002	2019
The death penalty should be abolished	12	19
The current situation should continue (death penalty commuted to life sentence)	12	21
We need to revive death penalty as it was at the beginning of the 1990s	49	33
We need to increase the application of death penalty	19	16
Difficult to answer	8	10

Source: Levada Center (2019b).

Table 6. Levada Center – “Do you agree or disagree with the statement that gays and lesbians should have the same rights as other citizens?” 2005–2019.

	2005	2010	2012	2013	2019
Totally agree	17	12	13	7	20
Partly agree	34	33	33	32	27
Partly disagree	19	22	22	28	18
Totally disagree	16	19	18	19	25
Difficult to answer	14	15	13	15	9

Source: Levada Center (2019a).

Table 7. LegitRuss regional variations on key moral issues. Answers yes/no.

	National	Moscow	St Petersburg	Arkhangelsk	Ryazan	Bashkortostan
Q12. Do you agree … On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do	49/46	39/57	40/57	49/47	53/43	46/51
Q14. Do you agree … A child needs a home with both a father and a mother to grow up happily	92/7	85/13	89/10	94/5	94/6	93/6
Q15. Do you agree … Individuals should be allowed to have sex before marriage	55/37	67/23	60/20	62/32	41/43	56/38
Q33. Please tell me for each of the following actions … To beat children	45/52	55/43	49/49	48/51	49/48	42/56
Q36. Please tell me for each of the following actions … Abortion	46/47	66/30	68/27	52/42	43/53	40/55
Q37. Please tell me for each of the following actions … Divorce	69/20	87/11	85/11	74/21	70/26	62/33
Q54b. Do you think that the Russian Orthodox Church should have a say in Russian politics?	not asked	18/80	12/86	24/74	25/72	28/67
Q16. Do you agree … It should be mandatory to learn about the basics of Orthodox culture in grade school	47/51	31/65	31/68	42/56	52/46	44/52

Source: LegitRuss survey, Spring 2021, to be available at the end of the grant project in 2024 at https://www.hf.uio.no/ilos/english/research/projects/value-based-regime-legitimation-in-russia/index.html. Questions on the scale “entirely/rather agree/disagree” were merged into “agree/disagree” categories for simplicity.

Levada Center. 2018c. “Chustva okruzhaiushchikh” [Feelings of Those around]. November 19. https://www.levada.ru/2018/11/19/chuvstva-okruzhayushhih/.

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Levada Center. 2015b. “Pravo na abort” [The Law on Abortion]. July 2. https://www.levada.ru/2015/07/02/pravo-na-abort/.

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Levada Center. 2019b. “Smertnaia kazn’” [The Death Penalty]. November 7. https://www.levada.ru/2019/11/07/smertnaya-kazn-2/.

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Levada Center. 2019a. “Otnoshenie k lgbt-liudiam” [Attitudes toward LGBT People]. https://www.levada.ru/2019/05/23/otnoshenie-k-lgbt-lyudyam/.

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