MOSCOW, October 29 (Itar-Tass) — Most Russian voters trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a recent public opinion poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTSIOM).
The respondents considered Putin to be active (85%), physically fit (83%) and sober-minded (82%). They also think that Putin is a wise (69%), charming (64%) and contemporary leader (53%). Two thirds of respondents believe that the president is in his prime (62%).
Dmitry Orlov, the general director of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications, said that the poll’s results showed that Putin would have won elections had they been held next Sunday. According to Orlov, Putin’s popularity ratings and the level of confidence which voters have in the president is not just high but exceeds multifold the ratings of other Russian politicians. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov is trailing behind Putin much more than 5% or 10%.
“The VTSIOM poll shows that some decline in Putin’s popularity ratings in August was of technical seasonal nature,” Nikolai Mironov, general director of the Institute of Priority Regional Projects, said.
“The VTSIOM results match the results of the Levada Center which show that Vladimir Putin’s popularity is up and has amounted to 67%,” Mironov went on to say. He believes that some recent research that showed a decline in Putin’s popularity ratings was carried out by wrong methods. “Mass public moods cannot be measured by polling focus-groups. They talked to participants in protest rallies and got a biased sample,” Mironov explained. He said that his institute had conducted its own research that revealed quite a low level of protests mood in society, especially among Russia’s middle class.