MOSCOW, August 20, 2009. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the information about Russia's state symbols: whether Russians know them, what feelings these symbols evoke, and what Russians are proud of.

Russians know coat of arms of Russia best of all. An overwhelming majority of Russians are correct about what is shown on it (83-86% from 2004 to 2009). It should be noted that more educated Russians (91%) much more often name the components of the coat of arms (86-88% among Russians with secondary and secondary special education and 65% among respondents with elementary level of education).

 

The knowledge of Russians about the national flag is slightly worse: more than half of Russians are correct to name colors and their arrangement on the flag (54-60% of respondents from 2004 to 2009). About one-third of Russians (32-34%) name correctly only colors. Only every twentieth (5%) point out everything wrong. The younger the respondents are, the better knowledge of flag they have (75% of 18-24-year-old respondents versus 46-65% of older respondents correctly name the colors and their arrangement).

 

The opinion poll revealed that among the national symbols of Russia respondents know the national anthem worst: over the recent two years more than one-third of Russians (33-40%) name only the first words from it correctly. Virtually the same percentage of Russians report the wrong words from the anthem (34-36%). Younger respondents remember the national anthem better (56% of respondents aged 18-24 versus 24-41% of older Russians).

 

More than half of Russians (56%) feel admiration and pride when listening to the anthem of the country. In comparison: 52% of respondents have the same feelings when they see the flag and 49% - when they look at the coat of arms of Russia. Liking is evoked by the Russian flag (29%) and the coat of arms (28%), rather than anthem (25%). Only in 14-17% of cases respondents feel indifference when they see national symbols. Irritation and antipathy is reported by 1-2% of respondents. Remarkably, the feelings of Russian towards national symbols have stayed almost the same over the recent three years.

 

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on June 6-7, 2009.  1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia.

The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

Could you name the colors of the Russian flag and their arrangement? (open-ended question, one answer)
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Colors and arrangement named correctly	56	54	58	55	59	60
Only colors named correctly	33	33	34	34	32	32
All is wrong	5	8	5	7	5	5
Hard to tell	6	5	3	4	4	3

Could you name the colors of the Russian flag and their arrangement? (open-ended question, one answer)
	Total respondents	Age, years
		18-24	25-34	35-44	45-59	60 and above
Colors and arrangement named correctly	60	75	64	61	59	46
Only colors named correctly	32	21	31	32	34	37
All is wrong	5	2	4	6	5	9
Hard to tell	3	2	1	1	2	8

What are the first words of the national anthem of Russia? (open-ended question, one answer)
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Correct	19	23	34	33	40	39
Incorrect	36	43	36	32	36	34
Hard to tell	44	34	30	35	24	26

What are the first words of the national anthem of Russia? (open-ended question, one answer)
	Total respondents	Age, years
		18-24	25-34	35-44	45-59	60 and above
Correct	39	56	41	46	37	24
Incorrect	34	26	33	33	34	44
Hard to tell	26	17	26	22	30	32

Could you tell, what is shown on the coat of arms of Russia?(open-ended question, one answer)
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Correct	83	83	86	84	85	86
Incorrect	8	7	8	7	9	7
Hard to tell	9	9	6	9	6	7

Could you tell, what is shown on the coat of arms of Russia?(open-ended question, one answer)
	Total respondents	Education
		Elementary, or lower, incomplete secondary education	Secondary  (school, technical college)	Secondary special (college)	Incomplete higher (not less than 3 years), higher
Correct	86	65	86	88	91
Incorrect	7	17	6	8	4
Hard to tell	7	18	8	4	5

What do you feel when you see the national symbols of Russia? (close-ended question, one answer)
	National coat of arms				National flag				National anthem
	2006	2007	2008	2009	2006	2007	2008	2009	2006	2007	2008	2009
Pride, admiration	47	46	47	49	49	48	52	52	53	53	56	56
Liking	26	23	27	28	26	24	28	29	24	20	25	25
Indifference, no feelings	21	21	21	17	20	18	17	15	17	16	14	14
Irritation, skepsis	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	3	2	1	1
Antipathy	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shame	1	1	0	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	0	1
Hard to tell	2	6	3	3	2	7	0	3	2	8	3	3

 

Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM,

the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!