Russia stops publishing 'open' Putin trust ratings after they drop below 30% – media
Kyiv • UNN
VTsIOM has stopped releasing open surveys after trust fell to 29.5%. This is Putin's lowest figure since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The Russian state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) has stopped publishing the so-called "open" trust rating for Vladimir Putin after his score dropped below 30%. This was reported by The Moscow Times, according to UNN.
Details
According to the publication, this refers to a rating formed using an open-ended survey method, where respondents are asked to independently name the politicians they trust without the Russian president's name being mentioned beforehand.
In early April, the so-called "open" trust rating for Putin fell to 29.5%, the lowest level since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. This rating is determined during a survey where respondents are asked to independently name politicians they trust without any prompts.
At the same time, in "closed" surveys, where citizens are directly asked whether they trust Putin, the support level was significantly higher—73.8% in early April and 72.3% in late May. Thus, the difference is explained by the different survey methodologies.
As The Moscow Times writes, since the beginning of 2024, Putin's "open" trust rating has decreased by 5.5 percentage points, and compared to the peak values of March 2024, by 19.5 points. When compared to the record figure of 2014, when 68% of respondents declared trust in Putin, the level of support has decreased by more than half.
The publication points out that the "open" rating, which was previously published monthly, last appeared on the VTsIOM website on April 5 based on March results. Data for April and May have not been released.
Meanwhile, Putin's performance approval rating, which VTsIOM continues to publish weekly, stood at 66.6% as of May 31 and has been declining for the second consecutive week. This occurred despite a change in survey methodology—a transition from telephone interviews to door-to-door canvassing.
Zelenskyy met with Abramovich in Kyiv to convey a message to Putin - FT07.06.26, 19:22 • 8792 views