Page 21 - Russia OUTLOOK 2024

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.
According to polls from the Levada Centre, Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating rose three percentage points in November to 85%, and disapproval slid down two points to 13%.
Separately, another poll conducted by the state-controlled Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) reported a small decline in Russians' trust of Putin: 78.5% of participants expressed their trust in President Putin, marking a minimal decrease of 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous poll. Additionally, the approval rating for President Putin's job performance showed a slight dip, with 75.2% of respondents indicating their approval, representing a 0.2 percentage point decrease.
Putin is benefiting from the failure of Ukraine to make any progress with its counteroffensive this summer and rising incomes in both nominal and real terms thanks to a tight labour market.
At the same time, the heavy state spending on defence has given the economy a shot in the arm, which is running well ahead of potential.
These positive results are also seen in things such as retail turnover, which is also up in November, and the PMI manufacturing index is still in expansion mode, well above the 50 no-change mark, while unemployment is at a historic low of 3%.
The good news is also reflected in the “is the country going in the right/wrong direction” question, where “right” ticked up 3 percentage points as well to 67%, while “wrong” remained flat at 21%, as more people shifted from “don’t know” to “right”.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has also seen his credibility rise to 72% in November from 68%, while his disapproval rating remains flat at 21%.
Mishustin has made steady gains since he took office in 2017 with an approval rating of 53% that rapidly fell to a low of 31% in the summer of 2018 and remained under 40% for the next year. But after a four-year recession ended that year and since the start of the war, Mishustin has shown himself to be a competent administrator and has increasingly won over the population for maintaining the standard of living in Russia.
The government has also seen its approval tick up two points to 69%, which is not much of a difference from where it has been for the last year. Even the Duma, one of the most disliked institutions in Russia, has seen its approval rise to 61%, with a 33% disapproval rating. The approval/disapproval of the Duma is usually balanced, and often with disapproval outweighing the two.
Regional governors retain their relative popularity with a 72% approval rating, down by two points from October. The governors have seen their approval rise from last year, when their polling numbers were mostly under 60%, but they
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