Poll shows Armenians leaning West but favoring balanced foreign policy

Nearly half of Armenians say the country should pursue a pro-Western foreign policy, though most still support maintaining relations with both Western countries and Russia. This is according to a new poll conducted last month by the International Republican Institute among resident citizens of Armenia and forcibly displaced former residents of Nagorno-Karabakh.

While 49% of respondents favored a pro-Western orientation, most within that group still supported balanced relations. Just one-third of those said the country should align exclusively with the West. 

The preference for balance was even more pronounced among the 33% who favored a pro-Russian orientation, with closer to one-fourth of them favoring exclusive alignment with Russia.

Support for the West was found to be slightly higher in Yerevan at 51%, compared with respondents in other urban and rural areas. Rural areas showed the strongest support for a pro-Russian orientation at 37%.

When divided by age, a majority of respondents aged 18 to 35 supported a Western orientation at 54%, followed by 42% of those aged 36 to 55 and 50% of those 56 and older. However, respondents in the middle age group showed the strongest support for an exclusive or primarily pro-Russian policy at 38%. 

When divided by party preference, nearly three-quarters of Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract supporters said they favored closer relations with the West. By contrast, roughly the same proportion of supporters of Strong Armenia, led by Samvel Karapetyan, and the Armenia Alliance of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Robert Kocharyan favored a pro-Russian orientation.

The poll also found changes in perceptions of Armenia’s key political partners. The share of respondents who consider the United States an important political partner rose to 42%, up from 37% in June 2025, though still down from 56% in December 2023. Russia has seen a steady decline, falling from 61% in 2023 to 43% now. 

The poll also showed broad support for Armenia joining the European Union, with 72% saying they somewhat or strongly support membership. When asked whether they would vote to join the EU if a referendum were held today, 51% said they would vote in favor, 13% said they would vote against, and 36% said they would not vote or declined to answer.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan and Turkey continue to be viewed as Armenia’s main political threats, though those numbers have declined slightly. Azerbaijan was named the top threat by 80% of respondents, down from 87% in the previous poll, while Turkey was cited by 69%, down from 79%. This was the first poll result since the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan initialed a still-unsigned peace deal at the White House in Washington, DC, and followed a year without soldiers killed in cross-border fire. 

Data was collected through phone interviews with a sample of 1,506 respondents nationwide.