site.btaPoll Shows Radical Change in Public Opinion of Russian President, Spike in Solidarity with European Countries

A radical change in public opinion of the Russian President and a spike in solidarity with European countries was revealed by an express, nationally representative survey of the Alpha Research polling agency. The poll was conducted jointly with the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on February 28, 2022, by direct standardized phone interview among a sample of 500 adult Bulgarians across the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who enjoyed a positive rating for years, lost over half of his popularity in the four days of military action, the survey shows. If in 2020-2022 between 55 per cent and 58 per cent of Bulgarians had a positive attitude towards him compared to just 20 per cent negative, nor the situation has undergone a radical turn. Positive attitudes have dropped nearly twice to 32 per cent, while negative ones have grown to 48 per cent.

Escalating aggression, loss of human lives and the threat of using nuclear weapons are the factors that turned people’s attitude, for over three-fourths think Russia’s invasion in Ukraine was uncalled for, the analysts think. In these critical days, the until recently totally obscure President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, won the approval of 40 per cent of the interviewees against 29 per cent with a negative opinion, data show.

The unprecedented accord of European countries in imposing united sanctions on Russia to help Ukraine is judged as a correct policy by 63 per cent of Bulgarians. Thirty-two per cent are of the opposite opinion. Against this backdrop, 55 per cent approve Prime Minister Kiril Petkov’s move to ask for the resignation of Defence Minister Stefan Yanev for expressing “personal” opinions on the country’s foreign policy differing from the joint government policy. Thirty-six per cent do not approve of Yanev’s replacement.

Forty-seven per cent of the respondents declared they were ready to share part of the price of the sanctions for some time. However, 36 per cent – mainly people with rather limited resources – would rather not, or could not, pay the higher prices.