Putin got 87% of the vote and yet in polls he only got 86% support. Definitely rigged.
https://www.levada.ru/en/ratings/
https://www.ned.org/democracy-story/russia-polling-for-democracy-the-yuri-levada-analytical-center/
Unfortunately there are not a lot of third party data sources on these kinds of opinions but prior attempts have still suggested a fairly high level of support. Truths in Russia are all buried under thick layers of corruption, brainwashing and bullshit. I have a couple of Russian contacts that anectodotaly claim the support level is still quite high for this asshole, but you have to keep in mind that the majority of people there have been spoon fed lies their entire lives. It makes it that much easier to feed them bigger and bigger lies.
From speaking to Russians the overwhelming majority of people, especially in rural areas but also to a great extent in cities, probably correctly believe that elections are a waste of time because they’re not going to change the status quo or I guess if someone else is elected create a power struggle, so people just vote for the incumbent as they don’t want to cause trouble - the national attitude is “there’s nothing you can do about it”
While that’s very different from supporting Putin, it’s still intending to vote for him from a pollster’s point of view, so even in third party polls his “support” is going to appear higher than it is as they’re not measuring that, they’re measuring number of votes
I think another factor in getting these high approval rates is the citizen’s fear of being “found out”. Like sure, they don’t suspect their American friend of many years will report them to the Kremlin if they tell them they don’t support Putin, but what if they find out anyways? Better to just lie and fake support than to trust a survey is truly anonymous
The point I’m making is that he is popular in Russia. Ergo, why wouldn’t he get elected? And more specifically, his election result is exactly in line with the US-backed polling company prediction.
As for how he runs the country, whether there are lies, I’m not making a point on that.
We should question the original Western narratives about a stolen election when we can see the evidence of Putin’s popularity. You can read articles in western media that affirm Putin is popular in Russia.
The director of the Levada Center himself stated in 2015 that drawing conclusions from Russian poll results or comparing them to polls in democratic states was irrelevant, as there is no real political competition in Russia, where, unlike in democratic states, Russian voters are not offered any credible alternatives and public opinion is primarily formed by state-controlled media, which promotes those in power and discredits alternative candidates.
Yes, he is essentially pro Western which is why the NED funded the Levada center.
Putin had a meeting with the other candidates yesterday, by the way. I think that opposition is likely kept out of power by various means.
Especially important if the opposition is funded by the UK and US, like Navalny’s Democratic Alternative. Navalny’s highest national polling was 9% with many Russians unaware of who he is. He was a creation of the West, and an unsuccessful one at that.
The Russian communist party functions in Russia’s political scene and gets some significant support from the population, though it is far less popular than Putin. We might consider them to function as controlled opposition.
But Putin himself doesn’t control everything. Just read Medvedev’s scathing speech criticizing him as Putin sat on the stage next to him.
We can criticize their system and say it isn’t a fair system so that’s why Putin is popular. But let’s not pretend he isn’t popular. And let’s not forget that Putin brought Russia out of the economic collapse of the 90s and into the fifth largest economy. He did so by regaining state control of key industries that had been sold off cheaply in the 90s, under the direction of a team of Harvard economists via US NGOs.
Russians appreciate having jobs, housing and food which they didn’t have when the country was sold out in the 90s. They credit Putin with putting the country back on its feet.
