Mass perceptions of russia’s relations with america and western countries

_Russians’ attitude towards the United States has improved markedly amid the ongoing negotiations, which have become the most memorable event of February. Almost two thirds of the

respondents rate relations between Russia and the United States as bad. The majority of respondents have a bad attitude towards Joe Biden, while the majority have a good attitude towards

Donald Trump. The good attitude towards Trump is due to his attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and improve relations with Russia. Almost half of the respondents believe that

relations between Russia and the United States will improve after Trump’s election. Half expect that after the conflict ends, relations between Russia and the West will return to normal.

More than half support the idea of expanding ties with Western countries._ The most memorable event in February was the negotiations between the US and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia,

as mentioned by a quarter of the respondents (23%). Another 12 % mentioned the phone call between V.Putin and D.Trump, as well as their potential meeting. Events related to the Special

Military Operation were also mentioned by 12%, including 8% – just events in Special Military Operation, Ukraine, 4% – successes in Special Military Operation. For 6% of respondents, the

most memorable events were the first actions of the newly elected President of the United States, D. Trump. 41% of respondents could not name any events: for 21%, there were none at all, and

20% found it difficult to answer. Against the background of the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine (which the majority of Russians view positively), the attitude

towards the United States has improved dramatically – up to 30% (an increase of 14 percentage points since September 2024). However, half of the respondents (51%) still have a bad attitude

towards America (including 21% – very bad, and 30% – mostly bad). Young people under 24 years old (40%), those who disapprove of V. Putin’s activity as president (38%), those who trust

YouTube channels as a source of information (54%) have the best attitude to America. Older respondents (52% of respondents aged 55 and older), Muscovites (63%), those who approve of the

current president’s activities (52%), and those who trust television as a source of information (54%) feel worse about America than others. The majority of Russians (63%) negatively assess

the current relations between Russia and the United States, but the number of such respondents has decreased by 24 percentage points since May 2021. So, now every third person calls the real

relations between the Russian Federation and the United States cool, every fourth – tense, and 6% of respondents – hostile. 22% of respondents believe that normal, calm relations have

developed between Russia and America, while 9% spoke of good relations (friendly – 4%, good, neighborly – 5%). Half of the respondents (51%) have a good attitude towards the newly elected

President of the United States, D. Trump, while the majority of respondents say they have a bad attitude towards the former president, J. Biden (79%).  Over the past four years, the attitude

towards D. Trump has improved twice (by 26 p.p. since January 2021), while the attitude towards J. Biden has worsened, and more than twice (the growth of negative attitude by 44 p.p.).

Respondents mostly feel good about Donald Trump because of his attempts to stop the Ukrainian conflict: “_there is hope that the war will end/ promotes peace between Russia and Ukraine_” –

29%, “_agrees to negotiate_” – 12% and improve relations with Russia: “_he is trying to establish friendly relations with Russia_,_ restoring ties_” – 26%, and also because of his human

qualities: “_a man of action, a good politician, a real man_” – 15%, “_smart, sober, adequate, better than the previous president_” – 13%. Those who treat D. Trump badly give the following

judgments: “_I don’t believe him, I don’t trust him, he’s cunning, he’s on his own mind_” – 15%, “_he’s against Russia, he didn’t do anything for us_” – 12%, “_unpredictable, unbalanced,

clown, frivolous_” – 7%, “_businessman, trader_“, “_supports Ukraine_“,_ “has not done anything yet_” – 6% each. Since the first presidential term of D. Trump (2016), the share of

respondents who expect an improvement in relations between Russia and the United States after D. Trump’s election as president has decreased to 44% (a decrease of 10 percentage points). The

number of those who believe that the relationship will not change is growing – up to 34% (an increase of 7 percentage points). 8% of respondents think that the relationship will worsen,

compared to only 2% in 2016.  More than half of the respondents (58%) support further expansion of economic, political, and cultural ties and rapprochement with Western countries, but their

number has decreased by 21 percentage points over the past 25 years. On the contrary, one in four respondents (26%) believes that it is necessary to reduce ties and move away from Western

countries, the peak of such sentiments was in July 2015. Half of the respondents (50%) expect that after the current conflict over Ukraine and Crimea, relations between Russia and Western

countries will gradually return to what they were before. At the same time, every third respondent (32%) believes that we are facing an increase in tension, a new round of the cold war. The

share of both groups of respondents is decreasing slightly due to the growing number of those who found it difficult to answer. METHODOLOGY THE SURVEY BY THE LEVADA CENTER WAS CONDUCTED

FEBRUARY 20 – 26 2025, AMONG A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF ALL RUSSIAN URBAN AND RURAL RESIDENTS. THE SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 1615 PEOPLE AGED 18 OR OLDER IN 137 MUNICIPALITIES OF 50 REGIONS OF THE

RUSSIAN FEDERATION. THE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED AS A PERSONAL INTERVIEW IN RESPONDENTS’ HOMES. THE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSES IS GIVEN AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL NUMBER. THE DATA SET IS

WEIGHTED BY GENDER, AGE, LEVEL OF EDUCATION FOR EACH TYPE OF SETTLEMENT (LARGE CITIES, MEDIUM CITIES, SMALL TOWNS, VILLAGES) WITHIN EACH FEDERAL DISTRICT INDEPENDENTLY, IN ACCORDANCE WITH

ROSSTAT DATA. THE STATISTICAL ERROR OF THESE STUDIES FOR A SAMPLE OF 1600 PEOPLE (WITH A PROBABILITY OF 0.95) DOES NOT EXCEED: 3.4% FOR INDICATORS AROUND 50% 2.9% FOR INDICATORS AROUND

25%/75% 2.0% FOR INDICATORS AROUND 10%/90% 1.5% FOR INDICATORS AROUND 5%/95% Learn more ABOUT THE METHODOLOGY