Higher prices dent Putin's sky-high popularity: paper

Higher prices dent Putin's sky-high popularity: paper

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians' concern about rising prices has eroded President Vladimir Putin's approval ratings but these remain extremely high, the daily Vedomosti reported on Friday.

It cited a poll by the Public Opinion Foundation as showing that 72 percent of Russians would have voted for Putin in August, down from 76 percent in May.

Another poll, by the Levada Center, showed that in August 83 percent of Russians approved of the President's actions, down from an all-time high of 89 percent in May.

The paper quoted experts as saying the fall reflected public dissatisfaction about prices during the summer, when many regulated prices such as utility and transport charges are raised.

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Is this the start of the end for Putin? With popularity starting to decline, as well as the polls dealing with his re-election dropping as well, will Putin be able to find a way out of the mess he created? Things are heating back up in E. Ukraine, where Putin still continues to repeat his lies that Russian troops are not involved. With China having issues the plans they made with Russia over gas and energy are being put on hold (second pipeline still has not gotten of the ground). With the decrease in demand for oil and with Iran re-entering the mix oil is down to the $40 level and looks like its going to go lower. The plans to modernize and expand the Russian military is effectively dead on arrival for the foreseeable future.

Normally a drop from 89% to 83% in popularity would be nothing to talk about. However, in this case the Kremlin uses these poll results to justify their actions while spinning it. The fact the drop is being attributed to the food issue I think is a harbinger.

Has Putin ran out of contrived external threats to blame and have the Russian people finally decided to start seeing Putin for what he is?

Can you imagine an American politician with a 75% approval rating?

While things keep getting worse at home the are positively terrible for Russia and Putin around the world. Russia, Putin held in low regard around the world Compare that to the US and Obama and Russia has become non factor in the world as any sort of leader. Obama global leadership And then US Global opinion

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Can you imagine an American politician with a 75% approval rating?

Yes but only after their indictment and trial starts..

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Can you imagine an American politician with a 75% approval rating?

Well if American politicians could make the opposition party and candidates go away, controlled the media so even the idea of a negative story could get you in trouble and even complaining in the internet could get you in trouble, then yes I could see that. I could see a stump of wood coming in at 75%.

a reply to: MrSpad

So you're saying this number might be slanted a bit?
Lol....hhmmm.

a reply to: MrSpad

I didn't really think about how it would feel to be hated more than the US and Obama. Kind off funny considering the propaganda Russia puts out. I am waiting for the FSB to go after the agency that conducted the poll.

a reply to: Xcathdra

Vlad the infailure, Obamama, Abbott and Cameron - ZERO difference, they are all scum.

BUT.......High prices are literally everywhere, and as long as the $/barrel falls, we are all screwed - too many sectors rely on oil/gas to avoid the fallout. The global offshore industry won't recover for at least 36 months, even if prices rose tomorrow. Exploration and drilling (the key to growth) has completely ceased - Huge companies like Transocean are close to folding - even Chevron and INPEX are shedding employment contracts to suit the market.

Tough times, but I am confident we will recover - this seems to be a 7(ish) year trend, literally 2008 was the last major shift, and we all know what happened in 2008.

On a corruption scale of 1 to 10, (1 being not corrupt and 10 being fully corrupt) Putin would register about 538.

originally posted by: MrSpad
While things keep getting worse at home the are positively terrible for Russia and Putin around the world. Russia, Putin held in low regard around the world Compare that to the US and Obama and Russia has become non factor in the world as any sort of leader. Obama global leadership And then US Global opinion

Considering the caliber of creeps running for the White Hut in 2016, maybe the rest of the world should get used to the idea of null leadership from the US.