The poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) said that 39% of respondents think that neither Democrat party candidate, Barack Obama, nor Republican, John McCain, are capable of improving relations with Russia should one of them become a president.
Almost the same amount of respondents (35%) "had no opinion," while 18% said the relations would improve and 8% said ties would deteriorate.
The opinion poll was conducted in September in a total of 42 regions with a sample of 1,600 respondents and a 3.4% margin of error.
Relations between Russia and the U.S. have plunged to a post-Cold War low in recent years over a host of differences, including the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in Central Europe and a brief conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia, a Georgian breakaway republic.
Illinois Senator Obama, 47, and the 72-year-old Arizona senator McCain, held their final televised debate last Wednesday ahead of the November 4 polls. Obama emerged the clear winner, for the third time, according to phone-in polls.
