Approximately 75% of respondents polled by the All Russia Fund for Studies of Public Opinion (VTSIOM) have condemned mass demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine. But, 2% of the respondents in Russia said they approve the demolition of such monuments; every fifth respondent was indifferent.
The share of the protesters of the liquidation of the monuments to Lenin among the supporters of the Russian Communist party is 87%; people aged over 60 make up 84% of the protesters.
A total of 16% of the respondents branded all those who pulled down the monuments as "fascists and followers of Stepan Bandera"— one of the most sinister figures in the Ukrainian history. 15% of the respondents blamed mass acts of vandalism against the monuments on anti-Russia sentiments encouraged in Ukraine. Five percent of the respondents said those who pulled down the monuments are either silly or idle. Approximately the same number of respondents described the acts of vandalism as "attempts to revise history" ( five percent): four percent said the vandals either do not know history at all ( four percent) or hated the Soviet power ( three percent).
A total of 77% of the respondents polled in Russia have objected to a proposal to pull down the monuments to Lenin in Russia. People of advanced age (85%) have expressed a more negative attitude to the proposal than the youth aged 18-24 (60%).
The main argument given by the opponents of the demolition of the monuments was that the monuments symbolized the memories of a certain period in Russia's history ( 63%). 7% of the respondents said "Vladimir Lenin was a great man"; 5% said dismantling the monuments was “pointless”; 3% described such acts as "acts of barbarism."
The idea to dismantle the monuments to Lenin in Russia was approved by a mere 3% of the respondents polled; some of them (21%) said that nobody needs such monuments anymore; 17% said that monuments are the remnants of the past; 19% cited a negative attitude to Vladimir Lenin as the reason.
A total of 16% of the respondents polled said they do not care.
The VTSIOM poll was conducted in 45 members of the Russian Federation on October 25-26, in which 1,600 people were interviewed. A statistical margin error was no more than 3.5%