The popularity of a politician is an important indicator of the quality of his work. Russian President Vladimir Putin has always had a very high rating, even in the most difficult times it did not fall below 50%. But by mid-August, according to some polls, it fell below this mark for the first time.
A poll on confidence in Vladimir Putin on August 10-13 was conducted by the Levada Center (Yuri Levada Analytical Center), a non-governmental organization that regularly conducts opinion polls and enjoys a good reputation. According to the center, 48% of the respondents assess the work of the President of the country favorably, and 25% unfavorably. It is worth noting that in May these figures were 60% and 21%, respectively, and in the first two terms of Vladimir Putin's presidency they were even higher, in the region of 65% and 15%.
Polls conducted by the Levada Center show that the country's president's trust rating has been steadily declining. Why is this happening? According to 56% of those polled, they are tired of waiting for positive changes in the country from Putin. The confidence of Russians in the level of his influence on what is happening in Russia is also decreasing. In addition, the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, who took away part of the voters' sympathy from Vladimir Putin, also influenced the decline in the rating of the current president.
Some recent high-profile scandals, in particular, the trial of the Pussy Riot group, also affected the decline in the incumbent's popularity. Despite the fact that the majority of Russians do not support the blasphemous trick of the group in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, many of them do not approve of the too harsh sentence handed down to the group members. Considering that during the so-called punk prayer they sang the song "Mother of God, Drive Putin Out", the trial of the group for many Russians was associated with the name of Putin, which negatively affected the president's rating.
The economic development of the country, more precisely, its extremely low rates, had a great influence on the decline in the popularity of Vladimir Putin. Against the background of high inflation and the absence of any clear prospects for improving living standards, confidence in the president cannot be maintained at a high level. The country is still firmly on the oil and gas "needle", in many economic indicators it is hopelessly lagging behind the Western countries. Even in areas where Russia has traditionally been strong, there is a decline - in particular, in the space industry, which has been faced with a number of unsuccessful spacecraft launches. The country may even lose the status of a "space cab", not to mention the inability to solve large projects like the MSL (Curiosity) laboratory successfully sent by the Americans to Mars. Coupled with other problems - the still high level of corruption, imperfect judicial legislation, problems of the pension system and many others - Russians' trust in the current government is steadily declining.
