Putin’s popularity rating is falling

The rating of Vladimir Putin fell below the mark of 50 percent, first time after the beginning of his second term in office.
Meanwhile, Putin still is far ahead of his political opponents in terms of popularity.

According to the poll by Public Opinion Foundation, in the last week the rating of the President fell by 3 points and now it is 49 percent.

3,000 Russians from 200 towns and villages were asked for whom they would vote if the Presidential elections were conducted the coming Sunday.

The former Presidential candidate from Russian Communist party Nikolai Kharitonov is in the second position. 4 percent of Russians are ready to vote for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party, and 3 percent – for Sergey Glaziev, the former leader of Rodina leftist block.

For the time after the Presidential elections in March, 2044, the rating of Vladimir Putin fell from 56 to 49 percent. The rating of his opponent Nikolai Kharitonov fell as well, from 9 to 5 percent.

At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of people not willing to participate in the elections (from 11 to 15 percent) and those who made no choice of their candidate (from 7 to 12 percent).