After Hitting Record Low in Approval Ratings, Kremlin Quietly Halts Poll Releases... Putin Faces Public Scrutiny

Putin’s Approval Rating Sinks to 29.5%—Lowest Since Start of Ukraine War
State Polling Agency Halts Release of Survey Results

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As the war in Ukraine drags on and the economic crisis deepens, Russian authorities have ramped up control over public opinion after Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval ratings plummeted. In an apparent attempt to prevent the reality of public discontent from being revealed through numbers, the state-run polling agency abruptly stopped releasing the results of its regular surveys.

The last political trust survey was in March... No subsequent announcements after hitting record low

According to Le Parisien on June 10 (local time), Russian state polling agency VCIOM recently halted publication of the results from its "open-ended" political trust surveys. In these open-ended surveys, respondents are asked to name the politicians they trust without being given any prompts.

Previously, in this survey, President Putin's approval rating for March was recorded at 29.5 percent. This is the lowest level since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. It is a decline of 5.5 percentage points compared to the beginning of this year, and a steep drop of 19.5 percentage points from the peak in March 2024.

In response, VCIOM quietly stopped releasing the results of its "open-ended" surveys, which had previously been published monthly. As of now, the last update on the VCIOM website is for March, released on April 5, with the results for April and May—originally scheduled for publication at the end of each month—absent.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Photo by AFP Yonhap News

Interestingly, the results vary significantly depending on the survey method used. In "closed-ended" surveys, where respondents are specifically asked whether they trust President Putin, his approval rating remains above 70 percent, at 73.8 percent. This has led to interpretations that Russian citizens, living under an authoritarian regime, express support for explicit questions out of concern for their safety, but when given the freedom to choose, they openly reveal their fatigue toward Putin.

Switch from phone interviews to in-person surveys fails to reverse downward trend in Putin’s approval

The weekly indicators also show a decline. According to VCIOM, President Putin’s weekly approval rating stood at 66.6 percent as of May 31, about 10 percentage points lower than at the beginning of the year. This downward trend has continued for two consecutive weeks, even after the survey method was changed from phone interviews to in-person interviews.

This suggests that public support for Putin is gradually weakening, as the public grows increasingly weary due to rising prices, the ongoing economic crisis, and the prolonged war.

As backlash spreads, Kremlin highlights Putin's 'friendly image'

The Kremlin appears to be aware of these trends, with recent public engagements emphasizing a more approachable image for President Putin. On April 27, President Putin visited a sports school in Saint Petersburg and was seen kissing a student's forehead. Some analysts interpret such actions as a strategic attempt to narrow the emotional distance with the public amid concerns over declining approval ratings.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.