Page 25 - RusRPTAug19

(non)transition of power from Putin in his last legal presidential term, which require a constitutional reform, are under way. The number of those wishing to see Putin remain in Kremlin declined from the maximum of 67% in August 2017. Record-high number of respondents (43%) explained the trust in Putin with lack of any alternatives. At the same time only 24% said confirmed the statement "people hope that Putin will be able to cope with country's problems in the future", the lowest in 19 years of polling. Lev Gudkov of Levada Center commented that most critical to Putin are 25-30 years old respondents, which in the nearest future will be the decisive demographics. The negative sentiment peaks in Moscow, he added, expecting to trend to continue, as cited by Vedomosti. Gudkov also noted the minimal number of undecided respondents as a sing of polarisation of Russian social space, which is characterised by the decline in the "loyal majority" of Putin's voters and activation of the unsatisfied. However, other experts surveyed by Vedomosti reminded that most of respondents get active ahead of elections and otherwise do not consider the question of figure in power seriously. In 2016, two years ahead of the 2018 elections, Putin's ratings grew to 60% and only improved in the election build-up.
Russians’ trust in television news as a news source dropped by 25% in the past decade, according to the independent Levada Center pollster’s latest report on the national media landscape. Television remains the biggest news source for Russians despite becoming less trusted over the past decade, past Levada polling has said. Trust in television news among Russians has dropped from 79% in 2009 to 54% this year, Levada’s results said on Thursday. Russians’ trust in news websites, meanwhile, has grown threefold and trust in social networks has grown fivefold in 10 years, according to the Russian pollster’s results. “Russians’ trust in the way television covers primarily economic topics has significantly decreased in the past year,” the authors wrote. “Respondents often see television as a channel of information dependent on the state, so its trust level is often linked to the national leadership’s approval levels and the state of affairs in the country,” they added. Russians’ viewing habits also dropped from 94% of Russians watching television news in 2009 to 72% watching it in 2019. Older Russians over 65 years old are significantly more likely to watch television news than those aged under 25, with a 51% gap between the two age groups. The popularity of online news sources like Yandex.News grew from 29% last year to 39% this year in Russia, according to Levada’s results. Pro-Kremlin pundit Vladimir Solovyov remained the most-trusted television news figure at 23%, followed by
25 RUSSIA Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com