Putin's approval rating falls below 70 percent
According to a study held by Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval ratings have fallen below 70%. In mid-December, 74.8% of Russian citizens were ready to vote for him. Now the number has fallen to 69.9%. This is Putin’s lowest rating since the start of the presidential race.
At the same time, there is an increase in the number of people willing to vote for Pavel Grudinin, the Communist Party's candidate, from 4.6% to 7.2%. The share of other candidates' supporters was lower than peak values.
5.9% are ready to vote for the candidate from LDPR party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky while 7.1% would vote against him. Ksenia Sobchak secured 1.2% for and 1.3% against. Grigory Yavlinsky has 0.9% support but 1.7% against him. 0.3% support Boris Titov while 0.8% are against him. The number of respondents that were undecided about their candidate increased to 9.2% compared to the previous maximum of 5.7%.
Andrey Kondrashov, Putin’s campaign Press Secretary failed to explain the reasons for Putin's rating downgrades, BBC reports. "We do not have an adequate understanding of the criteria that affect these ratings," Kondrashov said and recommended that the inquiries be addressed to the rating producers themselves.
The Head of the Political Research Department at VCIOM, Stepan Lvov said that the subject of presidential election has become more relevant than ever and that if voters did not take their choices seriously before, now "electoral choice is being crystallized out."