Vedomosti: "Summer Credibility"
For the first time since the start of the crisis more Russians approve of the Putin government's policy
President Dmitry Medvedev's approval rating has hit a record high of 59%, 4% up on the previous month, a poll of 2,000 people in 44 regions conducted by the Public Opinion Fund (FOM) on August 1-2, revealed. The previous high after his election as President was 57%.
Vladimir Putin's approval rating has grown to 73%, the highest mark since last September. From the beginning of the crisis Mr Putin's rating has been going down, dropping to 66% in April.
The number of Russians who approve of the government's performance has also grown to 48% against 45% a month earlier. The lowest government approval rating was registered by the FOM in March (39%). The share of positive assessment of the Cabinet's performance in the social sphere is slightly larger than the share of negative assessments: 44% versus 43% (it was 39% versus 49% respectively a month ago). Even the government's performance in the economy sphere, where assessments tend to be the least favourable, gets good marks from almost a third of Russians (31%), while 45% give it bad marks (the figures a month earlier were 27% and 49% respectively), according to the FOM.
For the first time since the beginning of the crisis the number of people who believe their material well-being is worsening has diminished from 56% in March 2009 to 37%. 6% of respondents said their material well-being improved (2% more than last spring).
The Russian state statistics service (Rosstat) has also registered social improvement: wage arrears dropped by 18% in July, compared with June, to the lowest level since the beginning of spring.
People's perception of the political situation always tends to be more relaxed in summertime, says FOM President Alexander Oslon, but with the onset of autumn the ratings may take a dip. The approval rating of the country's leadership is an emotional indicator. In spring when the rating hit a temporary low point, the economic indicators were declining much faster, Mr Oslon recalls.
Public sentiment is now at the peak of optimism, says Yevgeny Gontmakher, head of the RAS Economics Institute's Social Policy Centre: this has partly to do with the seasonal lull in economic life and the fact that many have not yet felt the serious effects of the crisis while taking minor problems in their stride. He thinks everything is bound to change in autumn.
Vera Kholmogorova
