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2.3 Putin & government’s popularity
Eight out ten Russians (82%) are still happy with president Vladimir Putin performance , according to independent pollster the Levada Center’s monthly popularity poll.
That is despite more Russians expressing disappointment with Putin , saying that he has failed to improve living standards since the annexation of Crimea, the number of whom has more than doubled, reaching 32%, according to a separate poll from Levada.
The Russian president’s popularity has fallen only slightly this year from a high of 86% set in November 2016 after Russia launched its military campaign in Syria. Another 18% said they were unhappy with Putin in the latest poll, up one percentage point from a month earlier, but remarkably that means for the first time the number of respondents that answered “don't know” fell to zero for the first time. Love him, hate him, everyone now has a clear opinion on Putin.
The other numbers in this poll remained roughly the same as previous months. Just over half of Russians (51%) think the country is going in the right direction vs 32% that think it is going in the wrong direction. That represents an increase in pessimism as this indicator has been falling slowly by a point every month from its Syrian-high of 56 in November as the glow of national pride fades.
Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev’s popularity has staged a mild recovery after the country was swept by anti-corruption protests earlier in April aimed specifically at accusations levelled at the PM by anti-corruption blogger
9 RUSSIA Country Report April 2017 www.intellinews.com