Interfax: Some 82 percent of Russians ready to support Putin in next election – poll

(Interfax – August 13, 2014) The election rating of Vladimir Putin has practically doubled since the beginning of the year and he would have won a convincing victory if the next presidential election were held next Sunday, Levada Center sociologists told Interfax.

Some 52 percent of the respondents who intend to cast their ballots mentioned Putin in the first turn in their answers to an open question of the sociologists (who did not suggest any politicians). The indicator stood at 29 percent in January and 46 percent in March.

The rating of Putin was much higher, 82 percent, in answers to the same question suggesting concrete politicians, the sociologists told Interfax. On the whole, voter support for Putin amongst Russians who had made their choice has grown 16 percent (from 66 percent in January).

As of now, 18 percentof citizens are unwilling to vote or have doubts and the same number (18 percent) says there is no worthy candidate to occupy this high position, Levada Center said. What is the link between economics and Putin’s popularity?

A survey conducted by the Public Opinion Fund confirms a high level of public support to Putin.

Sixty-eight percent of the respondents told the Public Opinion Fund in early August they would have voted for Putin if the election were held next Sunday. Putin was supported by 46 percent of the respondents in January and 58 percentin March in similar polls.

According to Levada Center, 7 percentof decided respondents are ready to vote for Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov in the hypothetical presidential election and 5 percent choose Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Two percent said they would vote for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, 1 percent for Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and less than 1 percent for A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov.

The data provided by the Public Opinion Foundation is practically the same: 6 percentwould vote for Zhirinovsky, 5 percent for Zyuganov, 1 percent for businessman Mikhail Prokhorov and 1 percent for Mironov. Nine percent are undecided, 9 percent are unwilling to vote, and 1 percentis likely to spoil their ballots, according to the poll of 3,000 respondents held on August 2-3 in 204 populated localities in 64 constituent territories of Russia. The error is less than 3.3 percent.

If the election were held next Sunday, United Russia would have been chosen by 59 percent of decided voters, Levada Center said. The number stood at 56 percentin March and 48 percentin January.

Nineteen percent of the decided voters would have chosen the Communist Party (17 percent in March), 7 percent- the Liberal Democratic Party (8 percent), and 4 percent- A Just Russia (4 percent). Other parties (Civil Platform, People’s Alliance, Yabloko) can count on 1 percent of the vote or less. Nine percent of the decided voters would have voted against everyone (6 percentin March).

Levada Center polled 1,600 persons older than 18 in 134 populated localities in 46 regions on July 18-21. The error is less than 3.4 percent.