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2.10 Putin & government’s popularity
Putin’s popularity fell from highs of 82% earlier this year to 70% in the August poll by independent pollster the Levada Center, while those of Medvedev fell from 42% prior the pension decision in July to 28% in the August poll vs 71% of respondents that disapprove of him. This is an even lower score than he had following anti-corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny expose of the prime ministers estimated $1bn fortune from corruption last year.
Likewise the government popularity fell from 47% to 33% over the same period , on a par with the Duma of which 30% of respondents approve of vs 71% that disapprove.
Putin has largely remained above the fray , but following a televised statement to the public on August 29 he has taken responsibility for the reform now, but softened the terms. Pundits will watch his poll numbers closely in September to see how successful Putin’s pitch has been.
The discontent over controversial pension reform increasing the retirement age lead to a rise in the readiness of Russians for mass protests over political policies from a record low to top 40% for the first time since 2009, Vedomosti daily said on August 1 citing the data of the Levada Center pollster.
The propensity to protest with economic demands has also spiked in the reporting period jumping from 17% in March to 34% according to Levada.
The changes are needed to modernise the pension system, which is eating up about a third of the budget and will also go a long way to addressing Russia’s demographic problems. The increase in the retirement age is expected to add some 5mn workers to the workforce that will roughly cover the losses caused by a demographic dip working its way through from the chaos of the 90s when life expectancy for men plummeted to 56 years.
18 RUSSIA Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com