Vladimir Putin's 'State of the Nation' speech scores 8.07 out of 10: Poll

President Vladimir Putin's annual address to the Russian Federal Assembly, delivered on February 21, 2023, recieved a very positive reception (VCIOM), according to a survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center. The Social Research Expert Institute (EISI) commissioned the poll, which measured how viewers reacted to audiovisual materials and real-time reactions were recorded. The respondents responded to a formal questionnaire after watching the live broadcast.

The poll, which was based on 129 respondents' perceptions of Putin's speech after they watched the live broadcast in 10 Russian cities—Moscow, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Volzhsky, Krasnodar, Ulyanovsk, Biysk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Perm—produced an overwhelmingly positive response from the majority of those who took part in the survey.

45% record positive impact

The speech received an 8.07 out of 10 rating. Forty-five percent of respondents felt Putin's statements left an overwhelmingly favourable impact when asked about it. Another 36 percent felt the president's statements left a more favourable than negative impression. Attendees emphasised the significance and importance of the problems that Vladimir Putin spoke for them and their families.

Only 30% of poll respondents thought that a significant portion of Vladimir Putin's speech was intriguing, while 52% said that the speech as a whole was interesting. 

78% respondents say address was authentic and honest

78% of respondents thought the Presidential Address was authentic and honest. 88 percent of respondents thought that the Russian leader made his views on a wide range of issues plain and understandable. 84% of participants had a "good reaction" to the speech, compared to only 16% who had a "negative" reaction. 

According to the survey by VCIOM, Putin's speech on February 21, 2023, received the highest rating compared to the previous annual address, delivered in 2021.

The address was intended to set the tone for the coming year and to reveal how the Kremlin sees its impasse in the crisis in Ukraine. In order to legitimise his invasion of Ukraine, Putin has frequently asserted that Western nations pose a threat to Russia. 

According to Putin, Russia will keep "implementing the latest technologies" to strengthen its military. In addition, some innovations are already "exceeding the parameters of Western equipment."

The nation wants to "create a mass production" of these weapons using its own industrial and technical base model. "It’s they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it ," Putin stated while addressing parliamentarians, government representatives, and veterans who fought in Ukraine.