Trust in Putin Soars After Kremlin Criticizes State Pollster

(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s state pollster VTsIOM on Friday published a new survey showing trust in President Vladimir Putin of more than 72%, just 24 hours after it came under fire from the Kremlin for assessing confidence in the Russian leader at less than half that.

The latest poll, conducted Thursday, asked respondents whether they trust Putin or not. The previous survey from May 26 had left it up to Russians to name the politicians they trust, which put the president’s result at a 13-year-low of around 30%.

“All the political indicators remain within the previous corridor of readings,” the pollster said in a statement releasing the new results.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Thursday dismissed the VTsIOM polling data unfavorable to the president as contradicting other signs of rising electoral support for the head of state.

After plunging last year in the wake of a unpopular hike in the pension age that heightened discontent over years of falling living standards, Putin’s voter support has recently started to recover slightly. The president was re-elected to a final six-year term allowed under the constitution in 2018, but Kremlin aides are looking for ways for him to keep power after 2024.

The new survey looks like a hurried response to the Kremlin’s rebuke, said Denis Volkov, an analyst at the Levada Center, an independent polling agency in Moscow.

“They were told it’s not acceptable so they came up quickly with new data,” Volkov said by phone. In reality, the Russian population is “fed up because of the stagnant economy and living standards,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Scott Rose

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