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More than a third of Russians skeptical of opinion poll results

At the same time, more than 90% of those polled believe it is necessary to carry out opinion surveys

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. More than one-third of Russians (37%) view poll results with skepticism, according to a survey published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center on Wednesday.

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"Poll results are treated with skepticism by 37% of citizens <...> That said, one in two respondents (53%) believe poll results are fabricated to sway people by steering them towards some specific behavior," the poll says.

At the same time, more than 90% of those polled believe it is necessary to carry out opinion surveys, and 78% believe that polls help gauge public opinion, so that authorities could take it into consideration when addressing thorny issues. Besides, 61% of respondents believe that the results of opinion surveys are used by authorities, politicians and businessmen to increase the effectiveness of their activity.

This poll was held on November 8, 2018, and dedicated to Russia’s Day of Sociologists, November 14. It was carried by telephone among a random sample of landline and mobile numbers of 1,600 adult respondents. The margin of sampling error does not exceed 2.5% with a 95% probability.

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