Russian surveys show Putin, Medvedev support is falling

Despite a sharp deterioration in the economy, Putin and ally President Dmitry Medvedev have enjoyed high ratings since they took up their posts last year. But polls have shown their public approval fall steadily in recent months. Public trust in the work of Putin fell from a peak of 72 percent in mid-October to 65 percent on Nov. 22, the lowest point since March, according to weekly poll figures posted on the Web site of the Public Opinion Foundation on Wednesday. “Of course, we are studying sociological data very thoroughly,” Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

“However, we are also studying very thoroughly data we are receiving from our citizens directly,” Peskov said in reference to preparations for a televised Q&A session with Putin, which officials say will take place soon, but without giving a date.

He said the questions received from people during the preparations helped the government see “what measures are efficient, what are not efficient and where we should correct our activity”. Medvedev's rating stood at 54 percent, down from 62 percent in October.

“This is extremely serious for the government,” Moscow Carnegie Centre analyst Nikolai Petrov said. “In the absence of any stable political institutions, Putin's popularity is the foundation of the country's political stability.” He said the fall was clearly caused by the economic crisis, and government decisions to raise pensions and scrap a controversial transport tax were efforts to stem the fall.

Russia remains mired in a deep economic crisis, with GDP contracting 8.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier. Unemployment has climbed by more than a third, from 4.1 million in May last year to 5.8 million in October. Trust in the prime minister's office fell from 80 percent in August to 73 percent in November, according to rival pollster VTsIOM. A third poll from the Levada Centre registered a fall in trust in Putin from 66 percent in August to 60 in November.

“Putin and Medvedev's ratings are not directly dependent on what they do and say, they reflect the general situation in the country,” Levada Centre analyst Denis Volkov said. “We have seen a steady fall, but no collapse.”

Public trust in Medvedev fell from 58 percent in August to 51 percent in October, according to the Levada Centre.

Kremlin-aligned analyst Sergei Markov warned against reading too much into the poll ratings, saying ratings always fall as Russia's long, grey winter sets in. “They'll get better again in May when the sun comes out,” he said.

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