VTsIOM promises first round victory of mayoral candidate Sobyanin

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 14, 2013) Sergei Sobyanin would have won the Moscow mayoral election in the first round with 67.4% of the vote if the election were held next Sunday, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) said.

The acting Moscow mayor is the best known candidate – 98% respondents in the VTsIOM telephone poll said they knew him. Opposition activist Alexei Navalny ranked second with 77% and Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin ranked third with 63%. Voters know less about Communist Party Central Committee First Deputy Chairman Ivan Melnikov (36%), A Just Russia Chairman Nikolai Levichev (28%) and Liberal Democratic Party candidate Mikhail Degtyaryov (24%).

Sobyanin also tops the confidence rating (61%), VTsIOM said. Navalny is trusted by 16% of the respondents, Mitrokhin by 15%, Melnikov by 10%, Levichev by 5% and Degtyaryov by 3%.

The leader of the electoral rating is again Sobyanin: 53-55% of Muscovites said they would have voted for him if the election were held next Sunday. The number is even higher (60%) amongst voters. Navalny ranks second (8-9% for the past few weeks and 10% amongst voters). They are followed by Melnikov (3%), Mitrokhin (2%), Degtyaryov (1%) and Levichev (1%).

VTsIOM forecasts a mayoral election turnout of 48% and the support of 67.4% for Sobyanin, 13% for Navalny, 6.5% for Melnikov, 5.4% for Mitrokhin, 3.3% for Degtyaryov and 3.3% for Levichev.

Some 73-76% of Muscovites polled in the past four weeks said they would visit polling stations, and 46% were determined to vote. Most of the voters are Muscovites approving of Sobyanin’s work (79%) and pensioners (90%).

The VTsIOM polled 1,200 people by the phone on August 8-10. The error is within 3.9%.