#9
Novye Izvestia
November 28, 2001
PUTIN'S RATING NEEDS VERIFICATION
Is Putin's approval rating true or false?
Author: Alexander Nadzharov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
IT IS CLAIMED BY MANY THAT THE APPROVAL RATING OF PRESIDENT PUTIN IS IN FACT NOT AS HIGH AS IT'S THOUGHT TO BE (73%). ACCORDING TO VARIOUS POLLS, IT FLUCTUATES FROM 12% TO 73%. OBVIOUSLY, THE TRUE RATING CAN BE DISCOVERED ONLY WITH THE HELP OF INDEPENDENT SPECIALISTS AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.
Lately the moods of the Kremlin circles have been fluctuating between excitement and despair. Numerous publications about the overly high rating of the president (73% in favor of Putin) evoke unconcealed joy. But who would believe open data if he has secret information? And it is a tradition in Russia to trust secret data more.
Secret and that is why more truthful information is usually submitted by the Federal Agency of Government Press and Information (FAPSI). So, data, received from this confidential source, state absolutely different rating of Vladimir Putin it turned out that in the Stavropol region and the Rostov region it sank to 12-18%. It is well-known that the answer usually depends on the question. And also on the way it was asked. It should be mentioned that most answers for questions of the president's popularity are received with the help of telephone polls. But no. In the home city of the president, St. Petersburg, a firm of sociologists was discovered, which employed students, and paid them money for filling lists of "representative polls" in different handwritings "correctly'. Having been exposed in unfair shuffling, the "scientists" did not risk anything - falsifications of this kind are sued only during elections times.
However, what does success mean, if it is based on manipulations with public mind?
This idea was prompted by data, published by the Research Institute of the Moscow Humanitarian-Social Academy. According to them, there are approximately as many opponents to Putin as those supporting him, around 26%. This is followed by figures much more threatening to the government. According to conclusions of academy sociologists, only 2% of respondents believe that there have been positive transformations in the nation's public security services under Putin, while 33% hold the opposite opinion. And 97% of potential voters do not know anything of the president's national development program.
However, the question which is the most important to the head of state is not asked by Kremlin pollsters. It would sound like this: "Would you vote for Putin if the eletions were to take place today with the same set of candidates?" And only 13% of respondents would vote for Putin, while 51% would vote against him. The rest were unsure.
It should be noted that not only questions are different. Pollsters are also socially oriented. The above mentioned academy tends to the left wing. This structure used to be called the High Komsomol School of the Central Committee of the Komsomol Organization, which could not but affect the results of opinion polls. In any case, it influence the form of holding polls, which determined the results. But even such a disclaimer means that the truth is far from extreme appraisals. And it means that popularity rating of President Putin, no matter how high it may be, is far from 73%, which is declared by regime patriots.
By the way, the leftists' attitude toward Putin was very positive not long ago. Now their position has radically changed. It becam clear that our president promises everything to everyone quite eagerly. And now he is receiving blows from the disappointed left and right.
At that, even former colleagues from the KGB spitefully recollect last year "information leaks" about the Cabinet changes, about a promise to tackle bureaucratic and corruption problems, and an intention to stop the nation being plundered by tycoons. Putin is easy to understand: why should he change anything, if it is so nice and pleasant to enjoy the "pictured" rating?
But is it possible to make decisions affecting the lives of tens of millions of people in such conditions? Maybe it would be better to do some serious investigations of his popularity with the help of independent specialists at the international level? And publish the results immediately? Honestly and without censorship.
(Translated by Daria Brunova)
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