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Moscow (AFP) – Confidence in President Vladimir Putin has dropped to 39% among ordinary Russians, according to a poll released Monday amid popular discontent over pension reforms.
This is the lowest score for Putin since 2014, before he's experiencing a resurgence in popularity after the annexation of Crimea by Ukraine.
The survey conducted by the independent Levada Center revealed that confidence in Putin had dropped by nine percentage points since June and by 20 percentage points in total since November 2017.
Thirteen percent of Russians said they did not trust him, according to the latest survey conducted between September 20th and 26th.
The veteran Russian leader ratified a bill last week that will gradually raise the statutory retirement age to 60 for women and 65 for men, a first increase of this kind since the 1990s. 1930.
Most ordinary Russians are deeply opposed to the reforms that triggered rare street protests.
"People think that the government is trying to solve its problems at the expense of the people and has tried to take something that people consider to be theirs: retirement savings," said Lev Gudkov, director of the Center. Levada, in the daily newspaper Vedomosti.
He said social tensions have increased since the end of last year due to several factors, including a decline in real incomes and rising prices.
While Putin easily won the March presidential election with more than 76% of the vote, public discontent over pension reform meant that "all matters of concern (about him) were grouped together," said Gudkov.
This led to a loss of confidence not only in Putin, but also in his allies: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he added.
Putin 's personal style of government means that he "can not blame someone else for unpopular decisions," political analyst Dmitry Orlov told Vedomosti.
The lowest score ever recorded by Putin in such a Levada poll dates back to August 2013, while just 30% to name him a trusted politician.
It had suffered a long period of declining support after the 2008 economic crisis and a wave of protests in 2011-2012.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment on Vedomosti's latest poll.
