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since he took office. His approval rating soared to into the 80s since the decision to annex the Crimea in May 2014, which boosted Putin’s ratings which had fallen to circa 65% in 2012-2013 when the Russian economy clearly stalled as the petro-driven economic growth model exhausted itself and growth fell to zero.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has also seen his approval rating drop by 10pp to 34% in September as did the approval of the Duma which is now 36%. The government’s approval rating has held up much better and has fallen 7pp from its peak earlier this year to 41% in September.
The population’s overall confidence in the government has also taken a 10pp hit as the number of respondents that believe the country is “going in the right direction” fell from 56% in June to 46% following the pension reform announcement but has since recovered somewhat to 49% in September.
20 RUSSIA Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com