vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #605 / Social life / Reading article...

84 percent of Russians recently interviewed by Levada polling agency consider smoking pot a morally wrong action, an immense number compared to 50 percent of Americans who think the same according to the Pew Research Center. Those numbers were identical to the percentages of people in Russia and America who disapprove of homosexual relations - 84 percent of Russians and 50 percent of Americans consider it immoral.

Russia’s Levada center surveyed 1,600 people across Russia on December 25, 2007. The margin of error is 3 percent, the agency said. The Pew Research Center polled people in the United States in March of 2006 and the Gallup Service did a survey in June of 2007.

The Pew Research Center is an organization that collects information to help enlighten the American public as well as the world on the subjects, opinions and trends that affect modern-day society. The Gallup Organization is an international institution, headquartered in Washington D.C. that conducts polling regarding political, economic and social issues.

According to the poll results, gambling addiction is out of the question for 73 percent of Russians while Americans are not strongly opposed to it - only 35 percent of people polled by the Pew Research Center in 2006 and 32 percent of those surveyed by Gallup in 2007 found it unacceptable.

The attitude towards alcohol is almost the same in Russia and America – 73 percent of Russians and 61 percent of Americans do not approve of it. How to explain the two nations’ love for consumption of vodka, beer and whisky is a question for another survey. At least people confessed their understanding that the habit is evil.

Having several wives or husbands is not approved by 74 percent of Russians while Americans show even stricter morals on the subject – 90 percent of those interviewed by Gallup in 2007 opposed the idea.

The question of tax evasion demonstrates a surprising revelation that 63 percent of Russians consider it inappropriate. In reality Russians are known to be an inventive nation on how to evade the burden of taxes. Americans are more cautious with the bills – 79 percent according to the 2006 survey find tax evasion a dishonest thing to do.

Infidelity in marriage raises a moral objection from 62 percent of Russians, while Americans show even higher intolerance to a spouse’s betrayal – 88 percent of people in a 2006 poll and 91 percent in the survey of 2007 said unfaithfulness in marriage was immoral. Never mind the condemnation; both nations seem to be fairly love-adventurous.

Only 29 percent of Russians do not approve of sexual relations between people who are not married, compared to 35 percent of people in America –a society that has lived and survived the sexual revolution.

22 percent of Russians still believe that divorce is an immoral thing, and 26 percent of Americans in the 2007 survey said the same.

Lies to save feelings of other people are not approved by 23 percent of Russians, while Americans are more direct and ruthless – 43 percent of Americans would not lie in such a situation because they find it inappropriate.

Russians are less careful about abortions – only 30 percent of the interviewed people said it is not acceptable for them, while in America 52 percent of the polled people in 2006 said abortion was an immoral practice.

Americans are also more cautious about cloning a human being -86 percent of people surveyed by Gallup in 2007 said it is immoral, compared to 50 percent of Russians who think it is morally wrong.

Russians, though, are more soft-hearted toward death sentences – 36 percent of those sampled think it is not acceptable, while in America only 27 percent of those interviewed by Gallup in 2007 said they do not approve of execution.

Overeating is not supported by 37 percent of Russians while Americans are easier on the subject – 32 percent of the people polled in 2006 said they found it unacceptable.