"... according to Russian polling agency the Levada Center. And 29% of Russians disapprove of Putin, down from 37% in August 2021. The polling group is the leading independent sociological research organization in Russia and is widely respected by many scholars, including myself.... The Russian public largely believes that the Kremlin is defending Russia by standing up to the West. Putin has enjoyed relatively high approval ratings since he first became president in May 2000. His popularity averaged 79% in his first 20 years in office. Some political scientists attribute this trend to 'Putin’s personal charisma and public image' and Russians’ preference for a 'strong ruler.' Other experts argue that Putin’s approval ratings are actually related to Russians’ indifference and symbolic trust in political leaders.... The popular narrative is that Russia is a besieged fortress, constantly fending off Western attacks. Half of Russians blame the current crisis on the U.S. and NATO, while 16% think Ukraine is the aggressor. Just 4% believe Russia is responsible.... Polls conducted since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 consistently show that most Russians support the independence of the two self-declared republics in the Donbas. But they do not see them becoming a part of the Russian Federation...."
From "Putin’s public approval is soaring during the Russia-Ukraine crisis, but it’s unlikely to last" at The Conversation. That's by Arik Burakovsky, Assistant Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
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27 comments:
Let me know when Biden’s approval hits 25%. Or lower.
One of Putin’s core views is that Ukraine is not a legitimate country in its own right.
"Soviet Ukraine is the result of the Bolsheviks’ policy and can be rightfully called 'Vladimir Lenin’s Ukraine'."
Yeah, there's nothing like going to a Russian polling outfit to get the latest accurate polling on the Russian people. Stalin could only dream of such a thing. But then, he had the New York Times to do his polling back then.
Speaking of which, it's almost like going to NBC polling or NY Times polling for views on a US Presidential race. Though today's Russian pollsters are probably both more honest and more accurate.
By the way, don't look now, but there are people protesting in the street of St. Petersberg and Moscow. Relatively small groups. But brave. I wonder if others will come out today, tomorrow, and over the next week when bodies start piling up in Ukraine, and bodies start coming back, like those Zinky Boys from Afghanistan. I wonder how the Russian pollsters will show the polling at that time.
meanwhile...
President Joe Biden approval holds near lowest levels of his presidency
The national opinion poll, conducted Feb 22-23, found that 43% of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s performance in office while 53% disapproved
The polling group is the leading independent sociological research organization in Russia and is widely respected by many scholars, including myself
Never heard of you.
LOL - Totally. No state coercion or State-threats to make people obey going on there./
If only American democraticals had such power.
More worthless speculation.
@gilbar, do you really believe Biden’s approval is above 40%?
I think the simplest explanation for Putin's relative popularity is the economy. Russia's GDP per capita today is about $10,000 (down from $16,000 in 2013). When he first took office in 1999, it was $1,300. That's probably more a result of energy and natural resource prices than Putin's policies, but that is the kind of improvement that makes a difference in peoples' everyday lives. Even if wealth is primarily concentrated amongst the oligarchs, that's not something new under Putin -- the Yeltsin era was famous for corruption as well.
That said, as everyone else notes, the poll may be garbage data. But other indicators can be misleading too. E.g., there are apparently large antiwar protests in Russia at the moment. But while, say, 5,000 people is a big protest (especially in Russia), it's only 0.1% of the population of a city of 5 million. They could represent broad popular opposition, or they could be a tiny minority.
I'd like to see a legit poll of the American people: Do you think Russia would have invaded Ukraine if Donald Trump was President today?
Putin has enjoyed relatively high approval ratings since he first became president in May 2000. His popularity averaged 79% in his first 20 years in office. ...."From "Putin’s public approval is soaring during the Russia-Ukraine crisis, but it’s unlikely to last"
Hmmm...Do they ever go into the second part of the headline? Why is this time different?
To slightly alter P. J. O’Rourke’s observation:
Hello Mr. Peasant, I’m an inquisitive and frightening stranger. God knows who I work for. Would you care to ostensibly support the dictatorship which controls every facet of your existence, or shall we put you down as in favor of Putin opposition and just tear up your ration card right here and now?
Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all red lines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin’s sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests. - William Burns, Biden's CIA Director in 2008
polls
cute
Make that 'burg'.
Isn't that what usually happens? Leaders get a war bump up in the polls, but it doesn't last. Is there anything out of the ordinary there? It doesn't mean Putin is going to fall anytime soon.
How do you say “wag the dog” in Russian?
"Putin doesn't like the poll you just did."
(pause)
"We have others"
Why wouldn't Russians approve of what Putin is doing ? If they start to take serious losses or end up with a guerilla war in occupying Ukraine, it will change but Putin probably plans to negotiate with the half wits running Biden's State Department.
I thought Putin was a dictator. If so, what does it matter what his poll numbers are?
"Approximately 69% of Russians now approve of Putin"
I think that's a typo. I'm pretty sure it is 169% of Russians now approve of Putin.
If the Russian polling agency the Levada Center is going to do propaganda, get it right.
And many Serbs approved of Slobodan Milošević.
So?
rehajm said...
"The polling group is the leading independent sociological research organization in Russia and is widely respected by many scholars, including myself"
Never heard of you.
Should the people who have never heard of you care that you have never heard of him?
According to Auberon Waugh:
"The essential clue to Russian literature, as indeed to the mysterious Russian character, is that all Russians are shits. They know they are shits, that their whole repulsive society is based on a succession of lies which nobody really believes. The only proof that they are not, as Hitler believed, morally sub-human, is to be found in their occasional propensity to despair and suicide."
Gee, they sound like many of us. Trump gained a lot of support because of how he "stood up to" various liberal groups, and they in turn have long lionised those great heroes who "stood up to" (however we are spelling Hitler this year).
Big Mike said...
@gilbar, do you really believe Biden’s approval is above 40%?
every single bit as much, as i believe 82 million people voted for him.
Putin controls the narrative, so of course his approval rating has gone up. I have said from the beginning that the only way Putin loses the approval of the people if a steady flow of Russian men going home to their mothers in body bags.
The Ukraine hasn't mounted much of a military response. They have had 15 years to build a military that can respond to aggression, but haven't done squat. Now they come crying to NATO for help. I would love to see a major Russian failure, but at the same time, my sympathy for Ukraine is a bit throttled by their own inaction and corruption.
History repeats itself with this administration. Kabul, a worse exit than Saigon. Ukraine and the Donbas region, falling more quickly than the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia.
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