The first comprehensive poll to be released after the Kazan BRICS summit was compiled by Russia’s FOM polling agency and published earlier today. The poll was based on interviews of 1500 respondents from 104 localities in 56 Russia’s regions. The main questions addressed by the poll included the general awareness about BRICS within the population, assessments of the BRICS summit and BRICS as a bloc on the international stage.
In terms of general awareness, 35% of the respondents heard something about BRICS, with an additional 25% having knowledge about the grouping; 39% of the respondents have never heard about BRICS.
Of the 60% that have some knowledge about BRICS, 20% believe that the main rationale for the creation of the grouping is to advance economic development, 9% state that it is about building a counter-weight to the West, 8% see it as a platform to advance amicable relations across countries, 7% as a platform for the multipolar world, 5% believe that it is about creating an alternative currency and payment systems; 4% see its rationale in advancing peace.
In terms of the impact of BRICS on the international arena, 31% (more than half of those that have some knowledge about the bloc) see its impact as being significant, 14% believe that there is some impact, 7% state that there is no impact.
When asked about the main advantages of BRICS, 17% declared that it promotes economic development, 10% pointed to the advancement of friendly relations across countries and 2% pointed to the importance of the creation of a common currency and alternative payment system (this is item 5 out of 15 in terms of the ranking of overall popularity). Only 3% claimed that there was nothing positive in BRICS for its participants.
As regards the drawbacks of BRICS as a bloc, 4% pointed to the spending of resources to support weak economies and 1% referred to the deterioration of relations with the West; 33% saw no negative aspects associated with BRICS as a bloc.
Of the 60% with some knowledge about BRICS, 53% heard and knew something about the summit in Kazan; interestingly, among the most memorable events of the summit respondents pointed to the presentation of the BRICS currency note – something that was not even really a formal event at the Kazan summit.
Overall, while the perception of BRICS in Russia is generally positive there is clearly ample scope for raising the level of awareness about the bloc. Among the very few themes that are familiar to the respondents from Russia is the issue of the BRICS common currency – even though according to the authorities this subject was not officially discussed during the summit in Kazan.
The full results of the poll may be accessed via the following link:
Yaroslav Lissovolik, Founder BRICS+ Analytics
Image by andibreit via Pixabay