Page 29 - RusRPTJun20

2.13 ​Putin & government’s popularity
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has slipped to its lowest level in more than two decades of 59% in April from 63% in March​, according to independent pollster the Levada Center, its lowest level since September 1999 when Putin had just been made prime minister, but support for a constitutional change to extend his rule has risen.
The result means that Russia’s regional governors have almost certainly overtaken Putin to become the countries most approved off politicians. While the April results for the governors is not out yet, they have enjoyed high ratings only slightly less than Putin’s own for most of the last year and had an approval rating of 65% in March, according to Levada.
The public have been disappointed by Putin’s hands-off approach to managing the government’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic ​and Russia’s poor performance in fighting the virus.
The lead in the public health response was taken by Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin at the end of March who told the president in televised remarks that the official figure badly underestimated the extent of infections.
Since then Putin has charged the regional governors to take responsibility for their anti-virus actions and has distanced himself from the effort to protect his ratings should the efforts to control the virus fail. Putin is still focused on putting through a referendum to the constitution that would extend his rule by another two terms, dodging the current constitutional limit.
The referendum has been postponed from April and is now slated to happen sometime in the summer​, but the danger Putin now faces is the referendum will turn into a referendum on his success in dealing with the coronavirus. The fact that he has remained aloof during on the worst crisis Russia has face in three decades has also cost him politically.
Against Putin’s falling personal popularity was an increase in the support for the constitutional changes that would extend his term in office until 2036 rose to 47% in April, up from 40% in March, according to Levada.
While Russians are getting tired of Putin they also acknowledge he is a strong and effective leader. While Putin has the reputation as an autocrat in the west, to the Russians he is the man that brought the economic chaos and deprivation of the Yeltsin years to an end and oversaw and economic Renaissance that doubled the size of the economy and increased the average wage to on a par with the lower income levels of the EU. Even following the recent fall in Putin’s approval rating, they are still very high by Western standards and streets ahead of any potential political rival.
The poll was conducted by phone because of the coronavirus-related lockdown, rather than face-to-face, which Levada’s Deputy Director Denis Volkov said may have clipped 1-2% off Putin’s approval rating.
Volkov said an outcome of 61% would still mean Putin’s rating was on a par with 2013​, a year before Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea prompted his ratings to surge.
29​ RUSSIA Country Report​ June 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com