A poll that was recently released by Moscow independent pollster Levada Center found that 83 percent of Russians approve of President Vladimir Putin’s current actions. This represents a marked increase over the 69 percent approval rating he was given in January, and the poll also found that the ratings of several other government institutions, and the country's governing party, have also risen.
Although it is likely that polls in Russia are not a true reflection of public opinion as many people may feel compelled to provide socially acceptable answers, they are nevertheless considered a useful tool for checking the national pulse. The numbers themselves may need to be taken with a grain of salt, but the upward trend could well align with a growing positive sentiment among the Russian people.
Given what most Russians are being told about what is actually going on in Ukraine, it would be understandable if they genuinely believed that things are going well. After all, according to the state-run media there, there is no war with Ukraine and Putin is simply conducting a “special military operation” to deal with far-right extremists in Ukraine who are working against Russian interests.
Independent media in Russia has been completely silenced and the country has blocked access to Facebook and other social media platforms, as well as major foreign news outlets. This means that it is extremely difficult for those living there to find out what is really going on. Moreover, with a law enacted to punish people for spreading what they deem “false information” about the Ukraine invasion with as much as 15 years in jail and antiwar protesters being arrested, people are understandably hesitant to talk about the situation at all.
Levada, which has been named a "foreign agent" in Russia, questioned more than 1600 Russians for its poll, and the margin of error is less than 3.4 percentage points. According to the company's director, Denis Volkov, many Russians have gone from feeling shocked and confused when the invasion began in late February to believing that their nation is being besieged and that they must rally around their president. He noted that some respondents said that they do not support Putin in general but believe that now they do need to support him as everyone is against their country and he is defending them.
Volkov added that the mood in Russia is not unlike the one seen following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, although the overall feeling now is a lot darker. He told the New York Times: “There is no euphoria, because this time the situation is much more serious and difficult. There are victims, and it is unclear when it will all end.”
Veteran Russian TV host Stanislav Kucher, who left Russia due to censorship, told CNN that while part of it could well be fear among respondents to express disagreement with Putin, the fact is that many Russians trust Putin’s propaganda machine. They have long been fed Russian propaganda, and they trust what they hear on the news and TV and take it at face value.
“Education and information are the only keys to changing the mindset of Russians,” he added.
Biden's approval ratings continue to fall
In the U.S., meanwhile, where people still enjoy relatively good access to information despite Big Tech censorship, our own president’s approval ratings are moving in the opposite direction of Putin’s. Biden has yet to see a boost in his dismal approval ratings during Russia’s war in Ukraine, despite his best efforts to blame America’s economic woes on Putin rather than his own policies.
An NBC News poll that was released this weekend saw Biden’s approval rating drop to 40 percent, which is the lowest of his presidency, while a Marist College poll released on Thursday found Biden’s approval rating dropped from 47 percent right after the State of the Union address to 39 percent.
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