Survey in Kabardino-Balkaria: 58% of balkarians are ready to participate in protest actions

Respondents’ reaction on question “whom would you prefer as the next Russia’s president?” revealed quite high popularity of Putin, who proved to be much more popular among the local population than any other potential presidential candidate. 39% of those polled said they would prefer Putin as Russia’s next president. D. Medvedev was the second most popular presidential candidate (15%). Among other politicians who were mentioned by the respondents in Nazran as Russia’s next presidents were V. Zubkov (8%), G. Yavlinsky (7%), R. Khasbulatov (3%), V. Zhirinovsky (2%), S. Ivanov (1%) and former Ingushetian president R. Aushev (1%). It should be mentioned that current president of Ingushetia R. Zyazikov was not mentioned by any of the respondents as possible president of Russia. 24% of the respondents found it hard to answer this question, which testifies to possible significant changes in electoral preferences of the population during the time before presidential elections. Interestingly, popularity of Putin in neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria turned out to be significantly higher than in Ingushetia. During opinion poll in Nalchik in August 2007 56% of respondents preferred Putin as Russia’s next president while in Nazran number of Putin’s supporters was 39%.

Among the most critical issues of present Ingushetia were mentioned security issues (65%) and social and economic problems (63%). The third most critical problem of the republic was weaknesses of the local authorities (corruption and lack of professionalism). 14% said that the most burning problem is religious sphere meaning by that increasing influence of radical Islamists. 6% found it difficult to answer this question.

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During the opinion poll in Nazran separate questions were asked about media use and media preferences of the population as well as about level of trustworthy of different media outlets used by the population.

Overwhelming majority of the respondents (70%) indicated television as their main source of news and information. In particular, NTV (34%), Ren TV (14%) and NV Channel Russia (10%) turned out to be the most popular sources of information. Internet (54%) proved to be the second most popular information source. The most popular web site the respondents regularly consult for information purposes is ingushetia.ru (40%). Friends and relatives were indicated by the respondents as the third most important source of news and information (35%). Newspapers as the main source of news and information were indicated only by 28% of those polled. “Novaya gazeta” (13%) and “Serdalo” (9%) were at the top of the most popular print media outlets in Nazran. 8% mentioned international TV, having in mind primarily Euronews, as their main information source. 5% of respondents indicated Radio Liberty as their most important source of news and information.