Anti-Corruption Protests Didn’t Make Navalny More Popular – Poll

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 17, 2017)

Highly publicized anti-corruption protests organized by opposition leader Alexei Navalny in June did not increase his popularity, the news outlet RBC reported Monday.

Citing an unpublished report by independent pollster Lavada Center, RBC said the percentage of respondents who recognize Navalny and the Anti-Corruption Fund that he leads remained unchanged from March 2017, despite anti-corruption protests in more than 100 cities across Russia on June 12.

The protests led to the arrests of 866 people in Moscow and 658 people in St. Petersburg, according to a Human Rights Watch report. Navalny was also detained and spent 25 days in jail before his release on July 7.

Navalny’s recognition level is at 55 percent, the same as in March, after his supporters held mass protests on March 26.

Attitudes toward the politician are also unchanged. In June, 30 percent of those polled said Navalny is acting in the interests of the West when he publishes his anti-corruption reports, compared to 28 percent who held this view in March.

Lavada Center began conducting polls on Navalny in 2011 when his recognition was just 6 percent. The numbers spiked in mid-2013 and have remained around 50 percent since.