PUTIN'S UNITED RUSSIA PARTY NEARS LOWEST-EVER POPULARITY
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party is hemorrhaging support, polling at its lowest levels since 2011, as public outrage over pension age increases builds.
United Russia, the party with the largest presence in the country's parliament, has long relied on its association with Putin for its popularity. However, approval for both party and leader have taken a hit according to both independent and state pollsters, after Russian lawmakers tried to quickly pass a much-postponed new pension policy on the eve of Russia’s opening of the World Cup last month.
New figures now show that support for United Russia, the party that endorses the government’s policy most strongly, now has the support of only 37 percent of Russians, state pollster WCIOM reported. The figure is very close to the party’s lowest ever level of support of 34.4 percent, which it reached in 2011.
The recent trend follows estimated drops in approval of Putin and the Russian government, which is even less popular than United Russia, at 31.1 percent approval, according to WCIOM. Another state survey company and the independent Levada Center have also tracked similar figures.
https://www.newsweek.com/putins-united-russia-nears-its-lowest-ever-popularity-after-his-approval-1050400
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