The attitude of Americans to Russia has improved compared to surveys conducted earlier, and the rating of positive perception has risen to 30%. Such data was made public by Gallup Institute.
But, even in spite of the improvement of the indicators, the majority of Americans, 65%, still negatively regard the Russian Federation. And if you compare it with the indicator of ten years ago, then the obtained value is twice as large.
In 2002, 66% of US citizens positively perceived Russia. It should be noted that the return of Vladimir Putin to the presidency significantly lowered the rating of the Russian Federation in America. In 2015, the indicator fell to 24%.
The key factors were such decisions of the country's authorities as granting political asylum to Edward Snowden, the annexation of the Crimea peninsula and escalation of the military conflict in the southeast of Ukraine.
In addition, fewer Americans view Russia as a source of high military threat to the United States. In comparison with 2015, this indicator fell by 10 points and now makes 39%, however in 2004, only 18% of Americans were afraid of Russia.
Gallup sociologists believe that the improvement of Russia's rating in the United States was influenced by the fact that Russia now does not appear so often in the news line, as it was in 2013 and 2014.