Putin’s approval slides 5 percentage points in one month
Vladimir Putin (Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)
Russia’s public
approval of President dictator Vladimir Putin fell sharply in June 2026,
dropping five percentage points to 74 percent, independent Russian outlet
Agentstvo.Novosti reported on July 2, citing a Levada Center survey.
The report said the decline, the steepest since September 2022, when Putin announced a mobilization for the war against Ukraine, also coincided with a rapid fall in the share of Russians who say the country is moving in the right direction. In June, 52 percent of respondents told Levada Center pollsters the country was headed the right way, down from 61 percent in May, a decline of nine percentage points.
The share of Russians who disapprove of Putin’s performance rose from 15 percent to 21 percent, Agentstvo.Novosti said, the highest level since the 2022 mobilization.
Agentstvo.Novosti also reported that concerns about long-range strikes in Ukraine and related disruptions at major airports have begun to worry Russians more than the situation at the front. By the end of April 2026, 15 percent of respondents named the strikes as their main problem, nearly matching the 17 percent who said they were chiefly concerned with the overall course of the war.
The publication noted that pro-government polling data
remain sensitive: the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), a pro-government survey
group, recently published figures that prompted media attention, and the
Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) stopped releasing its regular
public approval rating on June 8 after internal figures reportedly fell below a
critical threshold of 30 percent.
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