MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. The Russian public’s level of confidence in President Vladimir Putin has dropped by 2.6 percentage points (p.p.) to 78.2%, according to a poll conducted on August 12-18 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, 78.2% of the poll’s participants said yes (a 2.6 p.p. decline). The share of people surveyed approving of the president’s job performance was 73.6% (a 3.5 p.p. drop)," the pollster said.

A total of 48.3% of those polled said they approved of how the Russian government was running the country (a 2 p.p. drop), while 51.3% approve of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s job performance (a 0.6 p.p. drop). As many as 59.6% of respondents said they trusted Mishustin (a drop of 1.6 p.p.).

As for the leaders of parties represented in parliament, 33.9% of those surveyed trust Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov (a 0.8 p.p. rise), 27.6% trust A Just Russia-For Truth party leader Sergey Mironov (a 1.2 p.p. rise), 20.2% of poll participants trust Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) head Leonid Slutsky (a 1 p.p. rise), and 6.6% said they trusted New People party chairman Alexey Nechayev (a 2.5 p.p. drop).

The level of popular support for the ruling United Russia party stood at 36.8% (a 0.6 p.p. decline). The level of support increased by 0.1 percentage points to 9.2% for the CPRF and declined by 0.1 p.p. to 9.2% for the LDPR. The A Just Russia-For Truth party saw a 0.1% p.p. rise in its popular support to 3.6%, while support for the New People party rose by 0.3 p.p. to 6.1%.