Levada Center: Less than 10 percent of Russians support Navalny’s ‘Smart Vote’ initiative

Just 8 percent of Russians know of and support Alexey Navalny’s “Smart Vote” initiative, according to the results of a survey conducted by the independent Levada Center at the end of September.

Ten percent of respondents said they know about “Smart Vote,” but don’t support it. Another 16 percent said they had heard of the project but didn’t understand it, and 65 percent knew nothing about it. Among those who know about “Smart Vote,” 20 percent knew a candidate endorsed by the initiative (this statistic is equivalent to 4 percent of the Russian population).

Overall, 35 percent of respondents gave the strategic voting initiative a positive assessment, while 48 percent gave it a negative review. It garnered the most approval among Communist Party (KPRF) voters (54 percent positive) and the least among New People party and United Russia voters (33 percent and 13 percent positive, respectively). 

The Levada Center also tried to determine the level of support for an “Alexey Navalny party,” if it were running against United Russia, the KPRF, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), Yabloko, and A Just Russia. 

The results show that just 5 percent of respondents would vote for the “Navalny party,” allowing it to pass the threshold for entering the State Duma. However, Navalny’s party also had the highest anti-rating: 30 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t vote for it under any circumstances. By comparison, 26 percent of respondents said the same about United Russia, and 16 percent said this about the KPRF. 

The Levada Center gathered its survey data from September 23–29, conducting in-person interviews with 1,634 people over the age of 18 from 137 towns and cities in 50 Russian regions. 

Ahead of the 2021 State Duma elections, the Russian authorities demanded that Google and Apple remove Navalny’s mobile app from their App Stores, in an effort to restrict access to his team’s “Smart Vote” initiative. YouTube and Google Docs were also pressured to block access to web pages featuring lists of candidates endorsed by Smart Vote. In addition, Telegram temporarily blocked Smart Vote bots, citing Russia’s “election silence” during the voting process.