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More than half of Russians consider Putin politician of the year — poll

Putin also tops the ratings of the country’s elite, according to the poll

© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, December 26 /TASS/. Most Russians view Russian President Vladimir Putin as the most popular politician this year, a recent public opinion poll suggests.

"Vladimir Putin remains the most prominent politician of the year for 64% of Russians. The Russian president has outperformed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (18%), LDPR Leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky (8%), Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu (8%), and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (7%). Putin (77%) also tops the ratings of the country’s elite," the Russian Public Opinion Research Center said on its website on Monday.

Eight percent of respondents named Russia’s two-time Olympic Champion Elena Isinbayeva the best athlete in the outgoing year. Biathlete Anton Shipulin, who topped last year’s ratings, is second with 5%.

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Poll suggests more than 80% of Russians approve of Vladimir Putin’s policy

Movie stars Danila Kozlovsky (5%) and Sergey Bezrukov (5%) topped the 2016 actors’ ratings. "Russian pop singer Philipp Kirkorov was named musician of the year by 7% of the respondents. Finishing close behind are Grigory Leps (4%), Nikolay Baskov (4%), Sergey Lazarev (4%) and Alla Pugacheva (4%).

Selecting the writer of the year turned out to be a taxing task, as meaningful and coherent answers failed to garner more than 3%. Author Darya Dontsova topped the list with 3%, while Tatyana Ustinova came in second with 2%. That said, the popularity of other writers failed to surpass 1%," the survey revealed.

According to the public opinion research center, Channel One talk show "Pust Govoryat" (Let Them Speak), "Golos" (Voice) and "Novosti" (news) were the most popular programs in 2016 with 11%, 8% and 6%, respectively. The most popular TV series include "Major" (8%), with "Mysteries of Investigation", "Sled" (Trace), and "Univer" all tied with 4%. "Panfilov’s Twenty-Eight Guardsmen" and "The Crew" are considered to be the best films of 2016 according to 5% and 4% of respondents respectively.

"The general observation, which can be made, is that our compatriots do not have obvious favorites among famous athletes or big names in show business, TV and the movies: no film or TV series character could garner more than 10% in the popular ratings," the pollster’s survey said.

The poll carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center took place on December 17-18, 2016 in 130 populated areas in 46 Russian regions with 1,600 participants. The statistical error does not exceed 3.5%.

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