MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. The Russian public’s level of confidence in President Vladimir Putin has dropped by 0.6 percentage points to 79.5%, according to a poll conducted on July 22-28 and published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM).

The poll surveyed 1,600 respondents over 18 years of age.

"When asked directly if they trusted Putin, 79.5% of the poll’s participants said yes (a 0.6 percentage point decline). The share of people surveyed approving of the president’s job performance was 77.2% (a 0.4 percentage point rise)," the pollster said.

A total of 51.8% of those polled said they approved of how the Russian government was handling its job (a 1 percentage point increase), while 54.2% approve of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s job performance (a 1.6 percentage point rise). As many as 61.8% of respondents said they trusted Mishustin (a drop of 0.3 percentage points).

As for the leaders of parties represented in parliament, 32.6% of those surveyed trust Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov (a 1.5 percentage point drop), 27.1% trust A Just Russia-For Truth party leader Sergey Mironov (a 0.6 percentage point rise), 20.2% of poll participants trust Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) head Leonid Slutsky (a 0.8 percentage point decline), and 7.7% said they trusted New People party chairman Alexey Nechayev (a 0.1 percentage point increase).

The level of popular support for the ruling United Russia party stood at 36.5% (a 1 percentage point decline). The level of support dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 10% for the CPRF and declined by 0.2 percentage points to 9.3% for the LDPR. The A Just Russia-For Truth party saw a 0.7% percentage point rise in its popular support to 4.2%, while support for the New People party rose by 0.2 percentage points to 5.9%.