Russia’s Popularity With Americans Is Growing

More Americans had a positive view of Russia than a year ago, according to a poll that looked at attitudes in NATO countries and elsewhere toward Moscow, the alliance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The survey by Pew Research Center found that the percentage of Americans who had a “favorable” view of Russia was 11 percent in 2024, which was an increase of 4 percentage points from the 7 percent last year. The poll of 3,600 American adults was conducted from January 5 to May 21 and had a margin of error of 2.1 percent.

In 2020, two years before the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 15 percent of Americans had a favorable view of Russia, according to Pew. Newsweek contacted the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministries for comment.

Also polled were more than 44,000 people in 36 countries ahead of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C. It marks the alliance’s 75th anniversary, during which support for Ukraine against Russian aggression will be at the top of the agenda.

In other NATO countries, 13 percent of Canadians had a favorable view of Russia, which was up 1 percent from 2023. In France, the same attitude was up by 3 percentage points to 17 percent, while, in Germany, those with positive feelings toward Russia increased by 5 percent to 15 percent. In the United Kingdom, 13 percent of respondents had a favorable view of Russia—up 4 percent from last year.

However, the polling found that, globally, views about Russia and Putin remain largely negative. In the survey of three-dozen countries, 65 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of Russia, while 73 percent lack confidence in the Russian leader “to do the right thing regarding world affairs.”

In a media statement shared with Newsweek, Pew said it had also found that the opinions of Russian and Putin “have warmed since we last surveyed there. For instance, people in Argentina have grown 11 percentage points more favorable toward Russia and nine points more confident in Putin.”

Pew added that, in Europe, those with favorable views of a right-wing populist party see Russia and Putin more positively than those with unfavorable views of such parties.

Its survey’s findings give a snapshot on how support for Ukraine is straining among its Western allies and that efforts to isolate Putin are faltering.

Overall, an average of 46 percent of respondents said they do not have confidence in Zelensky to do the right thing in the war, compared to 40 percent who said they do.

Pew said in its statement that confidence in Zelensky has decreased significantly in 11 countries over the last year, with the largest drop in neighboring Poland, where confidence has fallen 22 percentage points, from 70 percent to 48 percent.

There were also smaller but significant decreases in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and the U.S.

Correction 03/07/24, 11.15 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to correct the date of when the poll was conducted.