Maria Snegovaya – 3.29.17
Both Russians and Republicans now seem to like each other more. These similar trends in both countries also have a common explanation: the structure of the media environment.
The recent tensions in U.S.-Russia relations made it popular for pundits to reflect on a “deeply seated Russian anti-Americanism.” Yet, despite those pessimistic forecasts, the late January poll by the Levada Center (the only truly independent polling company in Russia) shows that Russians have adopted a more positive view of the United States lately. More than a third of Russians now describe their attitude toward the United States as “very good” or “basically good”—an increase of 14 percentage points since January 2016. Although nearly half the Russian population still views the United States negatively, such an improvement may generally be a good sign for U.S.-Russia relations.
Russian optimism about the future of Russo-American relations peaked following the election of Donald Trump in November. Russian polls then indicated 54 percent of respondents were confident that relations with the United States would improve; however, that optimism waned to 46 percent after Trump was inaugurated in January. Still, Russians are demonstrably more hopeful now than they were when Barack Obama assumed the Oval Office in 2009, when just 30 percent thought the often tense bilateral relationship would thaw. The main reason for such optimism had to do with extensive pro-Trump coverage throughout the last year on the Russian state TV channels: Trump was portrayed as a president who would improve U.S.-Russia relations (63 percent of Russians thought so in November 2016). In light of his inauguration in January, Trump became the most frequently referenced person in Russian media, substantively surpassing mentions even of Putin himself (which hasn’t happened to the Russian president in several years). In February, Putin regained his leadership in Russian media references, but Donald Trump kept second place.
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