New Poll Shows 28% of Russians Support Restoration of Monarchy
Topic: Russian Monarchy
This article has been revised and edited from its original by Paul Gilbert, Founder of Royal Russia © 2017
Despite more than 70 years of Communist propaganda (1917-1991), a growing number of Russians support a restoration of monarchy in their country. In recent years, a growing number of Russian politicians and members of the Russian Orthodox Church have expressed their support for a restoration. Further, numerous predictions of Russian Orthodox prophets have foreseen a return to monarchy in Russia’s future.
According to a recent research poll conducted by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, 28% of Russians support the restoration of monarchy in their country, an increase of 18% since a similar poll was conducted after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
The recent poll shows a majority of the supporters of a restoration reside in Moscow and St. Petersburg (37%). In addition, among respondents aged 18 to 34 years, 68% were not against the monarchy.
At the same time, however, some two-thirds of Russians oppose the revival of Russian monarchy, believing that its historical time has passed.
The overwhelming majority of respondents (82%) believe the current republican form of government is more suitable. Smaller towns and villages approved of the current form slightly more, at 84-86%. In specifically choosing between monarchy and a republic, only 11% inclined towards monarchy.
Were the monarchy to be restored, respondents favoured looking to public figures and politicians to fill the role (13%), rather than to a Romanov descendant (6%). 70% say that the revival of the monarchy in Russia at this time would be impossible and incorrect.
According to the poll, among those who oppose a restoration of monarchy in Russia, most are supporters of the Communist party (74%) and elderly Russians (70%). Electorates of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia are more in favour of the monarchy (36%), and younger, 45-59 year-olds (31%).
The poll was conducted March 9-10, with 1,600 people in 138 locations in 46 regions and republics responding. The margin of error is 3.4%.
Discussion about the possibility of reviving the Russian monarchy has initiated once again after a March TV broadcast in which the head of Crimea Sergei Aksenov said, “We do not need democracy in this form, as it is presented in the Western media… We have our traditional Orthodox values… In my view, today, Russia needs monarchy.”
© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 24 March, 2017