Public Perception
The idea of relocation was opposed by a majority among inhabitants of Estonia. According to an opinion poll ordered by Eesti Päevaleht and performed by Turu-uuringute AS from April 5 through April 22, 2007 37% of respondents supported relocation of the monument, while 49% were against relocation and 14% had not formed any opinion on the subject. Relocation of the monument had slightly stronger support from native Estonian speakers—49% in favour of relocation—while only 9% of native Russian speakers supported relocation.
According to a non-scientific poll by the daily newspaper Postimees on April 25, when preparations for relocation had already begun, 85.12% of online readers taking part in the poll voiced their support for the relocation, 12.98% opposed it and the remaining were uncertain.
According to the article in Eesti Päevaleht, in Russia special services encouraged media to discuss the Bronze Soldier often and in a particularly emotional way, as a way of influencing political opinion. Among other activities, this translated into opposing and denouncing of high-level Russian politicians who supported civilised relocation of the Bronze Soldier.
Read more about this topic: Bronze Night
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“It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
“True science investigates and brings to human perception such truths and such knowledge as the people of a given time and society consider most important. Art transmits these truths from the region of perception to the region of emotion.”
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)