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Seventy-four
percent of Russians would vote to re-elect Putin as president,
according to a poll by VTsIOM.
Putin dominates state media in Russia and is widely expected to
contest the next presidential election in 2018. If he won, it
would be his fourth term as president.
He has capitalized on conflicts in Ukraine and Syria to boost
his popularity and his message that Russia is again a force to
be reckoned with on the world stage has gone down well with
voters.
VTsIOM said Putin's approval ratings had risen among many social
groups, including young people. It also showed his support
levels had risen sharply in recent years; in 2012 in the same
polling series only 40 percent of Russians said they would vote
for the Russian leader.
"Even among those who think the president has not yet fulfilled
many of his pre-election promises, 70 percent are willing to
support Putin," VTsIOM said in a statement published on its
website.
An independent Russian pollster, the Levada Center, gives Putin
similar ratings. Liberal opposition politicians say the figures
are unfairly boosted by the fact that state TV, where most
Russians get their news, affords Putin blanket and favorable
coverage while largely ignoring them.
Should Putin win the 2018 election, he would have the right to
serve until 2024. By that stage he would be over 70 years old
and come up against a constitutional limit barring him from
serving more than two consecutive terms.
After his first two terms as president, Putin in 2008 made way
for his protege Dmitry Medvedev to serve as president before
returning to the Kremlin himself in 2012.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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