Title: What did Russian citizens during the Cold War think about America? Why? - Quora
Headings: 
What did Russian citizens during the Cold War think about America? Why?
Dima Vorobiev

Content: The pollsters asked Russians what kind of idea they have in mind when they hear the words “the United States of America.” Fifteen percent of the respondents said they start thinking about American foreign policy, 14 percent of respondents said they think about wealth. Speaking of American foreign policy, Russians use many negative epithets such as “aggression” and “imposing will by force”. Too few Russians (about 2 percent of the respondents) are of a very good opinion on the political system calling the United States “the country where laws work.” Three percent of Russians named the USA “an independent country,” “the country pursuing its own way of development.” As the poll results demonstrate, despite the fact that 15 years have passed since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the iron curtain,” Russian people today still lack objective information about the United States and its policies. Russians admit this fact — 23 percent of the Russian people who participated in the poll said they lack information on United States culture, another 25 percent said they needed more information on the United States’ achievements in science and technology. The shortage of information causes misunderstanding and negative attitudes toward the United States among Russians, upsetting American politicians and creating obstacles to productive cooperation between the two countries. “I just can’t tolerate them, I dislike this country”, said one of the participants in the poll. Probably, for him it was impossible to name the exact reasons of his negative attitude to the United States as this attitude is based mainly on emotions, not on facts.