25% OF RUSSIANS SUPPORT THE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

The experts of Levada Center conducted a social research to identify the attitude of Russians towards the amendments to the Constitution. The analysis was ordered by the Apple political party - it was interested in the hypothetical possibility of holding a similar vote for the “Constitution of Free People” draft law.

It turned out that in case of holding an alternative vote the draft law of the Apple party has even better chances to gain support of the citizens than the current amendments. According to the research, only every fourth citizen of Russia is ready to vote for the amendments to the law proposed by the authorities on 1 July. The draft law of the Apple party gained 3% votes more. It is curious that almost the same number of Russians (26%) oppose both draft laws.  

The development of an alternative draft law for the constitutional reform began in January 2020.

Now, according to the analytical data of the Levada Center, 74% of citizens would be ready to support the package of legislative changes initiated by the Apple party.

The researchers were also interested in the answers to the questions, related to each amendment proposed by the Yabloko party. In particular, the majority of respondents believe that it is necessary to consolidate the election of members of the Federation Council in the Constitution (82%). More than a half of respondents consider it necessary to reduce the current presidential term by two years (54% of respondents).

Almost everyone (95%) expressed their readiness to vote for fixing the obligation of the state to treat children’s diseases at the expense of the state treasury at the basic law level, establish inheritance transfer of pension savings of citizens (90%) and introduce special savings accounts for each citizen from the export of natural resources (77 %).

The experts note that the research data indicate a serious decrease in the level of trust in the state power, a fall in the president’s personal rating, and, accordingly, trust in his legislative initiatives.

A special role in the upcoming vote, according to the analysts, plays a pandemic background. Only a third of respondents did not see any problems in the choice of the time of referendum. Two thirds of the population (more than 60%) reacted negatively to the choice of the date of the all-Russian vote.