Putin rig elections
© Chou Seh-fu
I have an embarrassing secret to admit to. I read RFE/RL. I know, shame on me. But really, it's just so much fun. So I knew I was in for a treat today when I saw this headline: "Survey: Two-Thirds Of Russians Hold Putin Responsible For Corruption". Juicy! And the first sentence doesn't disappoint:
More than two-thirds of Russian believe that President Vladimir Putin is "entirely" or "significantly" responsible for massive corruption among state officials, according to a new survey by the Levada Center.
Oh really? Hmm. Let's keep reading:
The March 28 survey found that 79 percent of Russians believe corruption has "completely infected" or "significantly infected" Russia's organs of state power.
Ahh, well that makes a bit more sense. But wait, what's this?
However, only 6 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that Putin will not seriously combat corruption because "he has a personal interest in it in one way or another."

Seventy-four percent said it was possible to either "completely" or "significantly" root out corruption, while only 21 percent said nothing could be done about the problem.
So wait a second, 66+% of Russians think Putin is personally responsible for all the corruption, but 94% of Russians seemingly don't think he has a personal stake in all that corruption? And 74% think it's possible to solve the problem? Are Russians schizophrenic? Well, no.

Follow that link to actually see the survey. Grab the nearest Russian hacker available to translate, or just use Google. Wonders await, including a little thing called context. Because, as that little "However..." in RFE/RL's story shows, there's more to the story than the headline. Here's what they felt just wasn't newsworthy:
  • 27% of Russians think Putin will succeed in the fight against corruption by going after top officials and making tougher penalties for corruption
  • 45% of Russians think Putin will try to fight corruption, but won't be able to do it because corruption is ineradicable in Russia
  • 17% of Russians think it is difficult for Putin to fight corruption, because he depends upon corrupt officials
In other words, 89% of Russians seem to think Putin is sincere about fighting corruption in some way, but 62% think he is hampered to a greater or lesser degree, either because he's up against too formidable a force, or because he can't possibly fire everyone, and therefore doesn't (because he relies on these people to actually do the work of the government - you have to work with what you've got, in other words). Only 6% think he's actually personally complicit in the corruption.

But you can't put THAT in a headline. God forbid.

How to reconcile the two seemingly contradictory statistics? Putin is the leader. He should eliminate corruption. He hasn't. Therefore he's responsible. But that doesn't mean Russians don't think he is trying, and may even succeed. That's the difference that makes a difference. Or so it seems to me.