Page 28 - bne IntelliNews monthly country report Russia February 2024

2.8 Polls & Sociology
One out of every two Russians wish for the war in Ukraine to end in 2024,
according to survey results from the Russian Field polling agency published December 29. When asked what they wish for Russians in the New Year, 50% of Russian Field’s respondents named “peace, a peaceful sky, and the end of” what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Another 6% wished for Russia's “victory,” the pollster said. February 2024 will mark two years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that has killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed several Ukrainian cities and upended the global economy. Russian Fields shared its poll results one day after the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported, citing anonymous sources, that President Vladimir Putin promised Chinese leader Xi Jinping earlier this year to fight in Ukraine for five years. Russian Field further said 40% of its respondents wished for health and 14% “patience, optimism, resilience, optimism.”
The level of trust among the Russian population in President Vladimir Putin edged slightly higher to 79.7% in a December poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), the polling firm said in releasing the findings of the poll, which surveyed 1,600 adult residents of Russia on December 11-17.
"When asked about trust in Putin, 79.7% of respondents answered positively (a 0.4 p.p. increase in the past week), while the Russian president’s approval rating rose by 0.1 p.p. to 77.1%," the pollster said.
The Russian government’s job approval rating stood at 53% (a 1.5 p.p. rise), while 54% of Russians approved of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s job performance (a 0.1 p.p. increase). A total of 62% of respondents said they trusted Mishustin (a 0.8 p.p. decline).
Survey respondents also expressed their attitudes toward the heads of party factions in the State Duma, or lower house of Russia’s parliament. Thus, 31.9% trust Gennady Zyuganov, longtime head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) (unchanged over the past week); 28.4% trust Sergey Mironov, leader of the A Just Russia — For Truth party (a 2.4 p.p. drop); 17.9% trust Leonid Slutsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) (a 0.7 p.p. decline); and 6.8% trust Alexey Nechayev, chairman of the New People party (a 0.9 p.p. drop).
As for political parties, the level of popular support stood at 42% for the ruling United Russia party (a 1.1 p.p. increase), 9.8% for the KPRF (a 0.4 p.p. rise), 8.3% for the LDPR (a 1 p.p. drop), 4.4% for A Just Russia — For Truth (a 0.2 p.p. decline), and 4.7% for New People (unchanged).
28 RUSSIA Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com