21% of Russians sympathize with V. Putin, 8% admire him, 27% cannot say anything bad about him, 9% cannot say anything good about him, 16% are indifferent to him. There are no significant changes compared to 2020.
[1]How would you describe your attitude to Vladimir Putin? (as %% of respondents)
| Nov.00 | Nov.02 | Nov.05 | Mar.08 | Oct.11 | Mar.13 | Mar. 14 | Mar. 15 | Jul.16 | Apr.17 | Oct.19 | Mar.20 | Aug. 21 | |
| Admiration | 4 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| Sympathy | 31 | 37 | 32 | 41 | 24 | 18 | 31 | 37 | 29 | 32 | 24 | 20 | 21 |
| I can’t say anything bad about him | 36 | 37 | 36 | 34 | 33 | 30 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 27 | 30 | 27 | 27 |
| Neutral, indifferent | 11 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 22 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 16 |
| Wary | 11 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 |
| I can’t say anything good about him | 4 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Antipathy | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Disgust | <1 | <1 | 1 | <1 | 1 | 2 | <1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Can’t say | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
47% of Russians would like to see Vladimir Putin as president after 2024. 42% would not like that, which is the highest figure since 2013. The changes compared to February 2021 are insignificant.
[2]Would you like to see Vladimir Putin as president of Russia after his current term, after 2024?
As %% of respondents
| October 2012 | October 2013 | November 2014 | May 2016 | October 2016 | May 2017 | August 2017 | May 2018 | July 2019 | March 2020 | February 2021 | September 2021 | |
| Would like | 34 | 33 | 58 | 60 | 63 | 66 | 67 | 51 | 54 | 46 | 48 | 47 |
| Would not like | 40 | 45 | 19 | 21 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 27 | 38 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| Can’t say | 26 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 14 | 16 | 22 | 8 | 14 | 11 | 11 |
Russians aged 55 and older want Putin to be president after 2024 the most (57% are for it, 33% are against it), respondents aged 18-24 want it the least (32% are for it, 57% are against it).
[3]The desire to see V. Putin as president after his current term is most common among people who watch TV (65% are for it, 26% are against it). This desire is the least common among people using social networks (31% and 59% respectively) and Telegram channel followers (29% and 66% respectively).
[4]40% of Russians believe that V. Putin represents the interests of the “siloviki” – the highest result since 2017. Another 40% believe that he represents the interests of “oligarchs” and big businesses – the highest number in the history of observations. 29% think that V. Putin represents the interests of high-ranking government officials and bureaucracy. At the bottom of this list once again were the poor – 2%, “all people without exception” and the intelligentsia – 9%.
In your opinion, whose interests are represented by Vladimir Putin? (as %% of respondents)
| Sep.00 | Sep.01 | Dec. 03 | Dec.05 | Oct.10 | Oct.11 | Jul.13 | Aug.14 | Aug.16 | Oct.17 | Mar.20 | Aug. 21 | |
| “Siloviki”: special services, the army, the Interior Ministry | 39 | 39 | 33 | 41 | 34 | 38 | 41 | 39 | 35 | 41 | 37 | 40 |
| “Oligarchs”, bankers, big entrepreneurs | 16 | 17 | 14 | 23 | 26 | 35 | 35 | 30 | 28 | 31 | 38 | 40 |
| Government officials, bureaucracy | 14 | 16 | 15 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 30 | 24 | 22 | 31 | 28 | 29 |
| “Ordinary people”: employees, workers, village workers | 18 | 17 | 23 | 18 | 20 | 17 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 17 |
| “middle class”: people with incomes above average | 19 | 19 | 24 | 21 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 23 | 18 | 16 |
| Directors and Top Managers: people leading large businesses | 13 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 18 | 27 | 23 | 19 | 19 | 25 | 17 | 14 |
| Yeltsin’s inner circle, “family” | 19 | 18 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 12 |
| Cultural and scientific elite | 6 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 8 | 10 |
| Intelligentsia | 9 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 9 |
| All people without exception | 9 | 11 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 9 | 6 |
| “Lumpen”: beggars, people on the bottom | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | <1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Can’t say | 16 | 18 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 11 |
A quarter of Russians (26%) believe that V. Putin has a personality cult in Russia / This is the highest figure since 2010 (25%). 21% believe that there is no cult yet, but there are more and more conditions allowing it. 41% believe that there is neither a personality cult nor any signs of it.
[5]Respondents aged 18-24 are most certain about the personality cult of V. Putin in Russia: one third of them (32%) believe it exists, another 30% think there are more and more signs of it. Respondents 55 years and older believe this least of all: half (49%) believe that there is no cult of personality.
[6]Respondents see the main reason for Vladimir Putin’s popularity as in the lack of alternatives: 41% of respondents say that “people do not see who else they could rely on.” Their share has almost doubled over the past six years. Another 27% believe that people hope that Vladimir Putin will be able to cope with the country’s problems in the future, the remaining 22% believe that “people trust Putin because they are convinced that he is successfully managing the problems in the country.” The shares of these two responses have decreased significantly over the past six years.
[7]Methodology
This survey was conducted September 23 – 29 2021, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample consisted of 1634 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the total number of participants along with data from previous surveys.
The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:
3.4% for indicators around 50%
2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%
2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%
1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%
The ANO Levada Center has been included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents.