Survey shows Americans and Europeans divided over sanctions against Russia

Moscow - Almost half of Europeans (47 percent) believe that sanctions against Russia should be lifted in June 2016, according to a recent Sputnik.Polls survey.

The poll found that 51 percent of Italians, 48 percent of Germans, and 43 percent of French respondents said that they agreed with the lifting of sanctions. In contrast, when asked about the same topic, only 29 percent of Americans said that they would like to see sanctions against Russia lifted. The poll was conducted by French opinion and marketing research company Ifop and UK polling agency Populus for Sputnik News Agency and Radio.

The poll also found that respondents in the United States were most likely to support extending sanctions. When asked if sanctions against Russia should be lifted or extended in June 2016, 42 percent of Americans said that they supported extending them. However, only 31 percent of respondents in Germany, 29 percent in France, and 27 percent in Italy agreed with extending sanctions. The survey also found that 21 percent of Germans, 22 percent of Italians, 28 percent of French respondents, and 29 percent of Americans said that they were undecided on the issue.

The European Union's economic sanctions against Russia were imposed in 2014. The EU is poised to make a final decision on extending the sanctions by the end of June 2016.

The poll was conducted in the United States and Italy by UK market research company Populus on April 15-21 2016. In France and Germany, the poll was run by France's oldest opinion and marketing research company, Ifop, from April 14-18 2016.

Pollsters interviewed 4,010 people. This included 1,002 respondents in the United States as well as 989 in Germany, 1,008 in France, and 1,011 in Italy. The poll was designed to include representative samples of the individual country’s populations in terms of gender, age, and location.

The confidence interval was +/- 3.1% at 95% confidence.