Putin named person of the year in Levada Center sociological survey

(Interfax – December 28, 2013) As many as 26 percent of Russians interviewed by the Levada Center sociological service have once again described Russian President Vladimir Putin as the person of the year in a December 2013 poll.

Putin has been found the person of the year in all polls conducted by the Levada Center since 1999.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was named the person of the year by 7 percent of those polled, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev by 4 percent, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden by 4 percent, and former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky recently amnestied by the president by 3 percent.

Asked whom they see as the woman of the year, 12 percent mentioned singer Alla Pugachyova, 4 percent Federation Council Chair Valentina Matviyenko, and 3 percent German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

More than half of the respondents – 51 percent – said in the same poll that the outgoing year was successful for them personally, compared to 47 percent in 2012.

The poll showed also that 24 percent of the respondents are discontented with the outgoing year (compared to 31 percent in 2012), and another 30 percent admitted that this year was harder for their families and beloved ones than the previous one (32 percent in 2012).

About one third of the respondents – 34 percent – described the outgoing year as more difficult for the country than the previous one, 20 percent hold the opposite view, and 46 percent did not notice any changes in this respect.