Majority of Volgograd residents (70%) do not want to change the name of the city. This is indicated in the results of the opinion poll of the Russian Field company. Volgograd.kp.ru.
1031 residents of Volgograd took part in the telephone survey. People were asked how they felt about the possible renaming and possible reasons for the close attention of the authorities and the media.
If the district leadership decides to change the name of the city, 70% will oppose it. While 25% of respondents supported renaming, the other 5% found it difficult to provide a clear answer.
Among Volgograd residents over the age of 60, 52% were against the renaming and 44% were in favor. Also, when compared with other categories, support for the return of the name Stalingrad turned out to be the highest in the advanced age category.
Young people aged 18 to 29 are mostly against renaming – 76% to 17% in favor. Volgograd residents aged 30 to 44 also support the current name – 77% against renaming, 18% in favor. There are even fewer people who want to return the name Stalingrad – in the 45-59 age category, 14% in favor, 80% against.
Also, 74% of respondents said they prefer the name Volgograd. Another 18% preferred Stalingrad, while only 5% preferred the pre-revolutionary name Tsaritsyn.
Volgograd residents were also asked about possible reasons for updating the renaming issue. A quarter of those surveyed said it was done to preserve the memory of the Great Patriotic War, while 24% suggested it was necessary to launder money.
About 23% said they might want to change the city’s name “to raise the level of patriotism”. 13% each expressed the opinion that they could change the name, firstly to increase interest in the city and secondly to “boost morale during the NWO”.
Simultaneously with this survey, local public figures launched another survey in the city on March 27, RIA Novosti reported. This was expressed by the co-chairman of the council for the study of the views of the population, the chairman of the veterans’ city council, Alexander Strukov.
According to the agency’s interlocutor, the survey is not conducted on the streets, but in private areas, including schools and high schools.
“We will make a cut: the people who will represent the teams – veterans, teachers, medical – and business workers will be represented,” the prominent person said.
Oppression v1.ru reported that mostly state employees participated in the first meeting-survey. Journalists quote the words of the respondents as “We are forced birds, we came because we were told to come”.
Speaking to the audience, Regional Duma Chairman Alexander Bloshkin said that Volgograd’s success as an industrial and cultural center is “a great value to the Stalingrad name.” He also called on journalists to leave the room and “let them talk to people like human beings”.
Oppression “Notebook” noted that.
some townspeople “noted a number of quirks in the conduct of the survey” – allegedly young townspeople were “rejected” because sociologists wanted to “hear the positive opinions of pensioners” [о переименовании]”. But at the same time, in addition to the telephone survey, there is also a survey at venues in the city – with other organizers.
Artemy Vvedensky, head of the Russian Field, emphasized in a conversation with socialbites.ca that their survey was purely a company initiative, and a large-scale survey with a “strange sample” of elderly Volgograd residents had nothing to do with it. to them.
He also said that when it comes to phone surveys, operators can call people of retirement age, as all other quotas for other age categories have already been closed and people are being interviewed.
“This does not apply to the telephone surveys conducted by Russian Field,” Vvedensky added, answering a question about media reports about the “elimination” of youth in surveys.
Referring to the press service of the Volgograd mayor’s office, RBC reported that the city administration did not conduct a poll on changing the name of the city to Stalingrad.
“The survey is conducted in accordance with the current legislation. The administration said that the Volgograd City Hall had nothing to do with this issue.
At the end of January, VTsIOM conducted its own survey. According to their results, 67% of respondents did not support the renaming of the city. Participants cited high costs, a reminder of the war, and a negative attitude towards Joseph Stalin as reasons for abandoning this idea. Some of those surveyed described the renaming as harmful and noted that “there is no need to live in the past”. The name change was supported by 26% of those surveyed.
The city bore the name Tsaritsyn from its foundation in 1589 until 1925. The city was called Stalingrad until 1961.