Majority of Russians Ready to Vote in Upcoming Presidential Election - Poll

The poll was conducted by phone on February 19-26 among 7,000 adult Russians with a margin of error below 1.2 percent.

Answering the question "Will you take part in the presidential election, which will take place in March 2018, or not?" 81.7 percent of respondents said they would "certainly" or "most likely" vote, up 0.6 percentage points from last week's result, the pollster said.

"For the fourth week in a row, Russians are increasingly willing to take part in the vote. Though the intention is just a declared one, the figures indicate an increase in Russians' interest in the elections," VTsIOM's chief political analyst Mikhail Mamonov said, commenting on the results of the poll.

Meanwhile, around 70 percent of Russians would vote for incumbent president Vladimir Putin in the upcoming presidential election, a survey revealed. Answering whom of the eight candidates they would support if the election was held next Sunday, 69.1 percent of respondents chose Putin, the pollster said.

According to VTsIOM's data, Putin has been enjoying the support rate of around 70 percent over the past months. His rating peaked at 76.9 percent in August.

Russian Communist Party nominee Pavel Grudinin enjoys 7.8-percent support, while the Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky is ranked third with 5.9 percent.

Additionally, 1.6 percent of those polled are ready to cast their ballots for Civic Initiative party candidate Ksenia Sobchak.

The remaining candidates — Sergey Baburin, Maxim Suraykin, Boris Titov and Grigory Yavlinsky — are each supported by less than 1 percent of Russians, the poll revealed.

The previous presidential election in 2012 saw a turnout of roughly 65 percent.