MOSCOW, July 25 (RIA Novosti) – The electoral ratings of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s ruling United Russia party went up in July after a fall in June, according to opinion surveys by the Levada Center pollster.
Asked whom they would vote for if a presidential election took place Sunday, 32 percent of respondents said in July that they would vote for Putin, up 3 percent from June’s figures and the same as in May.
The figures for Putin’s closest possible rival, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, were 8 percent in July, 7 percent in June, and 7 percent in May.
Asked what party they would vote for if parliamentary elections were held Sunday, 29 percent of respondents named the ruling United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in July, up 4 percent from June. A total of 35 percent said so in May.
Ratings for Zyuganov’s Communist Party were the same, at 12 percent, in the past three months.
These surveys were conducted on June 20-24 and July 18-22, among 1,601 urban and rural residents aged 18 and above in 130 cities, towns and villages across 45 Russian regions. The statistical margin of error did not exceed 3.4 percent.
According to another survey conducted in July, 65 percent of Russians on the whole approved of Putin’s work as president and, previously, prime minister. A total of 35 percent disapproved. The figures for June were 63-36, compared with 64-35 for May.
Asked to name a few politicians they trusted most, 38 percent of respondents mentioned Putin, 18 percent Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, 15 percent Medvedev, and 10 percent Zyuganov.
June’s figures were 36-21-16-11, and May’s figures were 36-21-19-13, according to Levada Center.
July’s distrust ratings were the following: 15 percent named Liberal Democrat leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, 11 percent Putin, 11 percent Medvedev, and 10 percent Zyuganov. In June, the figures were 14-10-10-9, and in May 17-13-11-10, respectively.
