Russia’s trust in Putin collapses, but the Kremlin is unshakable

Russia’s trust in President Vladimir Putin has declined again. Russia’s Public Opinion Research Centre (WCIOM) said that Putin’s ratings have fallen to an all-time low. At the same time, however, sociologists speak about a strange paradox at this point.

In the week from May 20 to May 26, Vladimir Putin’s rating made up 30.5 percent. This is a new low since 2006.

It is worth noting that sociologists conducted open polls, in which respondents were offered to name politicians whom they trust, and there were no options given to choose from. At the same time, in the case of closed polls, when interviewers specifically ask “Do you trust Putin?” the situation is completely different. In closed polls, Putin’s rating is much higher and amounts to 72.3 percent.

Researchers at the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) asked the specific question to people last week and received positive answers “I certainly trust” and “I rather trust” from 62 percent of respondents.

The Kremlin earlier demanded an explanation from WCIOM sociologists in an attempt to realise what caused the fall of confidence in the president against the background of the growth of his electoral approval rating. According to the FOM, the approval rating has grown by five percent since March and amounted to 50 percent.

Experts believe that the difference in the polls can be explained with overall negative sentiments in the country. When answering open questions, like, for example, “Which politicians do you trust?” people often find themselves at a loss or prefer to say “I do not know.”

Experts say that it would be better to include other politicians in closed polls and invite respondents to express their opinions on whether they trust Grudinin, Navalny, Shoigu and others.

Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, answering a question about the results of the new studies, said that the president could have only one rating – this is the rating of how people evaluate the president’s work. “If you look at the numbers, it turns out that you can approve, but not trust, or you can trust but not approve,” he said.