Page 33 - RusRPTOct20

2.13 ​Putin & government’s popularity
The popularity of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin have recovered over the summer as Russians seem to believe the president and government have responded well to the multiple crises Russia is facing. The regional governors also made gains, but in all three cases disapproval ratings remains largely unchanged and the gains were from respondents that were undecided before coming out in support of the various leaders.
Putin’s personal approval rate climbed six percentage points to 66 in August according to independent pollster the Levada Center, with the number disapproving of his work remaining the same; all the gains Putin made in his approval came from those previously undecided. Putin’s current approval rating is the highest it has been since February, just before the double whammy of the oil price collapse and the start of the pandemic kicked in.
More remarkably the personal approval rating of Mishustin has climbed steadily over this year. Mishustin was a relative unknown when Putin picked him from running the tax service to take over as prime minister at the start of this year in a surprise move. As Russia’s top taxman Mishustin scored between the high 20s and mid 30s in his old job.
After becoming prime minster his rating went up to 46 and then 47 in March and April as he took control of the government and began to deal with the epidemic. But over the next three months his approval rating has continued to climb to reach 60 in August with 36 against and only 5 undecided – a vote of confidence in the otherwise unpopular government which scored 50 approval in August and 48 disapproving, barely unchanged from the last poll in March. The Duma also remains unpopular with an approval rating of 42, down from 44 a month earlier, and a disapproval rating of 54, up 1pp from July.
The regional governors also continue to be very popular and enjoyed an approval rate of 63 in August, up from 58 the month before, only slightly behind the approval rating of Putin. Indeed the governor briefly overtook Putin earlier this year in the approval ratings but in general have benefited from the increasing autonomy regional leaders have when it comes to implement investments related to the​ ​12 national projects​. Interregional competition to win domestic investment has also made the governors more sensitive to the desires of the local population and they have been investing into social infrastructure to attract qualified workers and companies as a result. Regional governors disapproval rate is 34 up 2pp from a month earlier with the number of undecided falling dramatically from 10 in July to only 3 in August.
33 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ October 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com