Following Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine, the Kremlin adopted a raft of repressive measures aimed at stifling criticism of the government and opposition to the war. Within days, the context for publicly expressing political opinion, and consequently for survey research in Russia, changed dramatically. These changes raise new questions about the interpretation and reliability of data on public opinion in Russia.

What is the nature of public support for Putin and his war? How deep is it? How wide? With results from a new panel survey, the first to track political attitudes in Russia before and after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Professor of Government at Cornell University Bryn Rosenfeld will discuss domestic public opinion toward Putin and the war and what can (and cannot) be reliably inferred from available evidence.