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Every second citizen favors amending Russia’s Constitution — poll

Among the top issues, which, according to the respondents, should be reflected in the Constitution, are wages, pensions, free health care and education

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. More than half of Russians (52%) believe certain amendments should be introduced to the country’s Constitution, a survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center showed on Tuesday.

"Every second Russian (52%) believes it is necessary to amend the country’s Constitution. Among the top issues, which, according to citizens, should be reflected in the Constitution, are wages, pensions, free health care and education," the pollster said.

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The majority of the respondents (61%) said the Russian Constitution largely corresponds to the public’s needs (79% among those aged 18-24, 60% among those aged 60 and over), while 28% disagree with this view. According to one-fifth of those polled (20%), Russian authorities fully abide by the Constitution (30% among supporters of the United Russia political party), and, according to two-thirds (64%), they do so only to a certain degree.

"Russians have a certain respect for the nation’s Constitution and view it as a very influential document. After all, no one would propose amendments to the Constitution, if it were believed to be ineffective. The amendments deal with the same problems that Russians regularly talk about (according to our surveys), that is, living standards, education, health care (again, with an emphasis on the financial aspect). However, the demand for amending the political part of the Constitution is very weak," the pollster’s analyst Ivan Lekontsev said commenting on the results of the survey.

The poll was conducted on December 8-9, 2017, with 1,200 Russians aged 18 and above interviewed over the phone. The maximum margin of error does not exceed 3.5% with a probability of 95%.

On December 12, Russia marks Constitution Day. The current Constitution was adopted by a nationwide vote on this day in 1993.

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