Interfax: Over half of Russians ready to vote for Putin – poll

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Interfax – March 5, 2015)

The electoral rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin remains high, and 55 per cent of Russians would vote for him in a presidential election, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 5 March, quoting the Russian independent polling organization Levada Centre.

According to the poll conducted on 20-23 February, among those who had decided their position (86 per cent) and were ready to vote in a presidential election if one were to be held the following Sunday, 55 per cent of respondents would have voted for Putin.

Seven per cent of those polled would have cast their vote to leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) Gennadiy Zyuganov, and 4 per cent – to leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovskiy. Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu, Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev and opposition leader Aleksey Navalnyy could have got 1 per cent each.

As many as 57 per cent of respondents said they would like Putin to be re-elected for the presidential post in three years, 25 per cent spoke in favour of another person on this post and 19 per cent failed to answer.

If a parliamentary election were to held the following Sunday, 64 per cent of those polled would have voted for the ruling One Russia party, 17 per cent – for CPRF, 8 per cent – for LDPR, and 2 per cent for the unregistered Party of Progress. The Civil Platform and A Just Russia parties could have got 1 per cent each. Five per cent of respondents said they would have voted “against all”.

Forty-one per cent of those polled believe that the same man in power for many years ensures order and stability in the country while 18 per cent think that this increases corruption and arbitrary behaviour among the authorities; 19 per cent do not care what people are in power provided that the laws are observed.

The poll was conducted among 1,600 people in 134 towns and cities in 46 regions of Russia.

[featured image is file photo adapated from video thumbnail at voanews.com]

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