Russians are losing faith in Donald Trump

Originally published on RussiaFeed

When Donald Trump was running for the office of US President, many in Russia viewed him with cautious optimism. He was seen as a breath of fresh air by many who were shocked by the level of Russophobia which underlined Barack Obama’s failed presidency as well as that which was amplified in Hillary Clinton’s failed campaign.

Recent polls have found that this good will is starting to wear off as Congress seems to be unwilling to let Trump even have the possibility to engage in meaningful detente with Russia.

RT reports,

“State-run pollster VTSIOM reported on Friday that research from the end of July shows that 68 percent of Russians are aware of the new sanctions introduced against Moscow by the United States. Thirty-two percent told researchers it this was the first time they had heard about the developments.

the same study, 48 percent of respondents said they expected the new restrictions to cause no changes in Russia’s policies or its relations with foreign nations. A little under a third – 28 percent – said that the consequences of the sanctions could be negative, and 9 percent believe that Russia will actually benefit from them.

In addition, 29 percent think it is best to leave the new US sanctions without any reply, while 19 percent said they supported a symmetrical response and 9 percent admitted that though they considered reciprocal sanctions necessary, they could not give any specific ideas for such steps.

When asked about previous Western sanctions against Russia, 35 percent of respondents said that in their opinion these measures had improved the situation in the country. Just over a quarter – 26 percent – said that they thought the West had managed to worsen the situation in Russia, and 29 percent said that they saw neither positive nor negative changes.

Moreover, 72 percent of poll participants shared the opinion that the Russian authorities should not push for the cancellation of the sanctions as they would be lifted in due time”.

These poll results are in-line with the general Russia attitude that requires virtually nothing from the United States and expects even less. Donald Trump became a figure of interest to some in Russia because he promised peace and reconciliation. Any peoples would naturally favour a foreign leader who seeks peace with the first peoples, Russia is no different from any other country in this respect.

The optimism however has faded as stagnation seems to be setting in. That being said, most Russians are still somewhat glad that Hillary Clinton with openly dangerous policies towards Russia lost the election.