Putin’s approval rating among Russians rises to 81 percent

Latest news on the war pitting Russia and Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reached this week an approval rating of 81 percent, according to a poll conducted this Friday, where confidence on the part of the Russian citizenry increases after six months since the invasion of Ukraine.

The poll, conducted by the Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), has indicated that support for the president would have increased by 13.9 points since February 20, four days before the start of the war in Ukraine, when he had a 67.2 percent approval rating.

Russians would thus be backing Putin’s stance during the invasion of Ukraine in much the same way as when the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula took place in 2014, at which time the Russian president exceeded an approval rating of 80 percent.

On the other hand, as many as 62.5 percent of the participants in the latest survey – to which 1,600 respondents from at least 80 regions of the Russian Federation contributed – were positive about the performance of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Communist Party leader Guennadi Ziuganov has 33, percent approval, while the leader of the Just Russia party, Sergey Miyonov, has 31.7 percent support.

During the first months of the pandemic, the Russian president reached 73.9 percent popularity, although for ten months he has remained below 70 percent. Likewise, in 2008 Putin reached 85 percent support, the highest support figure he has ever achieved, according to the Lavender Center, which was responsible for the 2014 poll.