Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee View Post
As Benjamin Disraeli or Mark Twain or possibly someone else said: Существуют три вида лжи: ложь, наглая ложь и статистика.

And it's always worth remembering that the phrasing of questions in a poll can influence the answers. And, too, you should remember that in polls like this, the wording of the question is standardized and it's often impossible for the participant to give a more nuanced or qualified answer. Instead, it's like this:

QUESTIONER: "I tend to trust Russia less than I did 10 years ago." Do you strongly disagree, slightly disagree, slightly agree, strongly agree, or have no opinion?

PARTICIPANT: Well, gosh, it depends! Are you asking me whether I trust the Russian people, or whether I trust Putin? And are we talking about Russia's relationship with NATO, or Russian oil policy?

QUESTIONER: [repeating the question with almost identical wording] Do you strongly disagree with, slightly disagree with, slightly agree with, strongly agree with, or have no opinion about the statement "I tend to trust Russia less than I did 10 years ago"?

PARTICIPANT: Sheesh! Put me down for "slightly agree," I guess...

The "Pew Center" is as well-respected as any other polling organization, but that doesn't mean their surveys are completely free of accidental bias.
Yeah, I think polls are like tests. And it would be so easy to just make stuff up for the answers. Some woman called a few days ago and she was doing a survey. I just said "Huh?" and she startied asking questions so I tossed the phone on a table and screamed "Hey! Grab the phone, I gotta bounce!". Then I left. Dunno if anybody picked up on it but hey, no way I was gonna talk to some woman I don't even know.

And I don't get this thing about trust. How can anyone trust or not trust people that don't even live in their neighborhood? And trust them to do what? Well, I trust people to do whatever they decide to do but that's it. I mean, why does anybody need a cold war anyway? Are they scared Russia or America might jump up and scream "Boo!"? LOL! Well, those people in Krasnodar Krai didn't need any cold war to tell them what to accept and what to toss or how to show that lame Bloodhound band that they were Not impressed.
A lot of Americans diss Russians and a lot of Russians probably diss Americans too. But it's a really wrong attitude for people who haven't even met each other yet. I've had some Russian friends in real-life and so far, they've all been really cool.