Anna Arutunyan

Special for USA TODAY

MOSCOW — Most Russians appear to favor Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton as the next U.S. president because the Republican nominee is a man, more “fun” and has nice things to say about Russia.

An August poll by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion found 34% of respondents expected relations between Russia and the United States to improve if Trump wins, while only 6% said they would improve if Clinton is elected president. By contrast, 53% said they believe relations would worsen if Clinton became president, compared to 12% who felt that way if Trump is elected.

Relations between the two nations have been severely strained since Russia’s seizure and annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, a move decried as illegal by President Obama, who imposed economic sanctions in retaliation.

“Hillary Clinton is an astoundingly thick concentration of all the evil in this world,” journalist Dmitry Olshansky wrote July 23 on Facebook. “Against that background, the simplicity, rude jokes and fun of (Trump) is like a fresh breeze.”

“For Russia it’s better to have something new than the well-worn old,” said Konstantin Osokin, a music teacher. “We already know that (Clinton as secretary of State) led a policy of weakening Russia and creating a negative image. Trump is a businessman, so he is more pragmatic. Also he is a man.”

Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and recent comment that he would consider recognizing Crimea as part of Russia have made a favorable impression on Russians like Osokin.

“If Trump is president I think he will be able to avoid aggressive policies suggested by the State Department,” he said.

Such pro-Trump views may be the result of similar opinions expressed by media controlled by the Russian government, sociologists say.

“State propaganda tends to give a favorable view of Trump, and this is reflected in public opinion,” said Lev Gudkov, head of the independent Levada Center polling organization. “Partly this is because Trump is in awe of Putin.”

Trump has gushed about the Russian president, saying he would “get along well with him,” that Putin was a “leader,” unlike Obama. Putin, in turn, has called Trump “bright” and “talented.”

In addition, Trump has business ties here. Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov spent $20 million to hold the Miss Universe Pageant that Trump brought to Moscow in 2013. The venue for the pageant was Agalarov’s Crocus City Hall.

By contrast, Clinton’s stance toward Russia during her tenure as secretary of State was viewed by analysts here as hawkish and led to a sour relationship with Putin. In 2011, Putin blamed her for meddling in Russian politics and helping the anti-Kremlin street protest movement that swept Russia in the winter of 2011-2012.

U.S. intelligence suggesting that Russian security services hacked into the Democratic National Committee’s computers last month and leaked emails damaging to Clinton’s campaign have raised the possibility that Putin supports a Trump presidency. The emails showed the DNC, which is supposed to be neutral during the primaries, was actually helping Clinton defeat rival Bernie Sanders.

Some of Trump’s comments that are popular here — including his recent suggestion that he might not support NATO's mutual defense pact if a member nation is attacked by Putin's forces — may not really be a good thing for Russia, said Alexander Konovalov, president of the Moscow-based Institute for Strategic Assessments.

Trump to consider recognizing Russian control of Crimea

Such statements “might prove more dangerous, because he is less predictable,” Konovalov, said.

Putin also might favor Trump because "it would be difficult ... to deal with a woman," Konovalov added. Plus, "he understands that Clinton is a real politician, and it would be more difficult to get her to believe what he wants.”

The Russian president may not fully appreciate the dangers that an unpredictable Trump as president might mean for Russia, Konovalov said. "But on some level, he may suspect it.”