Nine in ten Russians approve of President Vladimir Putin

Russians’ high levels of confidence in PresidentVladimir Putin’s ability to handle foreign affairs has maintained in the last two years, although fewer of them approve of the way the leader is dealing with the United States, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

Overall, nearly nine-in-ten Russians say they are confident in their president’s ability to do the right thing in world affairs, with 58% expressing a lot of confidence.
87% of Russians have some or a lot of confidence in Vladimir Putin’s handling of global issues and most of them believe the leader has improved their country’s standing in the world.

The confidence in Putin’s global leadership maintains consistently high over since 2014, shortly after the conflict with Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea.

More than half of Russians express a lot of confidence in Putin, although his performance in handling specific issues has slipped since 2015 from 66% to 58%.

Regarding the foreign affairs matters, the approval rates have also taken a hit. Putin’s handling of relations with the U.S. dropped from 85% in 2015, when Barack Obama was still U.S. president, to 73% in the first months of the Donald Trump administration.

His handling of relations with the European Union dropped 15 points in two years, to 67%. And the share that approves of the Russian president’s handling of relations with Ukraine has dropped by 20 points since the annexation of Crimea three years ago (83% in 2015, 63% in 2017).

Putin gets the highest approval rate regarding the manner in which he manages relations with China (78% approval). However, even that figure is down 12 percentage points compared with 2015.

Despite slippage in how well the public thinks their president is handling key foreign policies, a majority of Russians say their country plays a more important role on the world stage than it did 10 years ago.

President Vladimir Putin’s high ratings on foreign affairs from most Russians are in contrast with the views on the country’s economic situation and anti-corruption policies.
On domestic issues, Putin’s ratings have slipped in the areas of energy policy (from 73% approval in 2015 to 60% today) and the economy (from 70% to 55%).

Putin’s marks for reducing corruption have also fallen over the past two years, from 62% to 49%. A 57% majority approves of Putin’s approach to civil society (the question was asked for the first time this year).

Only 46% of those who think the economy is bad have a lot of confidence in Putin, compared with a full 70% of those who think the economy is good. Putin earns lower marks (63%) than he did two years ago (83%) for his handling of relations with Ukraine. Support for the Russian president has also declined when it comes to his approach to relations with the EU, China and the United States.

Putin’s 2015 decision to intervene in the Syrian conflict was a momentous change in Russia’s foreign policy. Today, the prevailing view among Russians is that their country should stay the course in Syria, keeping Russia’s military involvement at its current level (46%). Among those who would like to see a change in Russia’s stance, roughly three times as many support decreasing the level of Russia’s involvement (34%), as opposed to increasing it (11%).

When asked about the purpose of their country’s military actions in Syria, majorities say limiting casualties (72%) and defeating extremist groups (64%) should be priorities, compared with just a quarter who say the same about the Kremlin’s apparent goal of keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power.

Syria has been one factor affecting relations between Russia and the West. Another has been NATO. As of this spring, around four-in-ten Russians (41%) describe the trans-Atlantic security organisation as a major threat to their homeland, down slightly from 50% in 2015.

At home, Russians most often cite rising prices as a very big problem (71%), followed by roughly six-in-ten (58%) who describe corrupt political leaders in the same terms. And at least half of the Russian public says lack of employment opportunities (54%), terrorism (54%), the gap between rich and poor (53%), crime (52%) and corrupt business leaders (50%) are very big problems.

Overall assessments of the Russian economy are tepid but relatively upbeat compared with recent years. In 2015, almost three-quarters (73%) saw the economic situation as bad. Today, opinion is split (46% good vs. 49% bad). Russians are feeling slightly better about their own lives as well. Around half (51%) now say their personal economic situation is good, compared with 44% in 2015.

Despite Russians’ lukewarm view of the economy, a majority (55%) still approves of Putin’s handling of the issue. Putin also has the support of more than half the country when it comes to energy policy and civil society. The only area included in the survey in which he fails to earn majority approval is the issue of corruption.