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Putin’s ruling party popularity drops

02 February 2011 18:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The popularity of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party fell in January to its lowest point in more than a year, months before a parliamentary election, an opinion poll showed Wednesday, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
If an election were held next Sunday, 35 percent of all Russians would vote for the party, 10 percentage points fewer than in December 2010, said independent polling center Levada.
Nearly a third of respondents said they did not know who they would vote for if anyone at all. The poll was carried out among 1,600 adults across 130 towns on January 21-24.
In a separate category that includes only those who said they would definitely vote, 57 percent said they would do so for United Russia, which would still hand the party a solid victory in an election.
The Communist Party would come in second if an election were held Sunday, collecting 20 percent of the vote, it showed.
Parliamentary elections are planned for December this year. The presidential vote is slated for March 2012.
Despite the drop, United Russia said it was confident.
"For us, the best indicator of the party’s rating is the support of the people," party spokesman Sergei Neverov said in a statement, adding 57 percent was still "a high figure."
The party coasted to easy victory in 2007 elections largely due to Putin’s popularity during his presidency in 2000-2008.
Levada Center said its fall in popularity was linked with annual price hikes that occur usually after the New Year.
Russians who saw steady improvement in their living standards amid rapid economic growth, especially in 2006-2008, are chaffing at the after-effects of economic contraction.
The economy grew 4 percent last year following a contraction of nearly 8 percent in 2009 during the global economic crisis.
The bulk of the poll was carried out before a suicide bomb on Moscow’s busiest airport last week that killed 36 people. Authorities have blamed North Caucasus Islamist rebels for the attack, though no one has yet taken responsibility.
Putin became Prime Minister after serving the constitutional limit of two presidential terms, steering his protege Dmitry Medvedev into the top Kremlin job in 2008.
Approval by Russians of the two leaders also dropped to their lowest in January, though both remain around 70 percent each, a Levada poll showed last month.