Putin’s Approval in Russia Soars to Record, America’s Plunges to Near Zero
Wolf Richter
Don’t let a good crisis go to waste – that appears to be the newest slogan of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as his approval rating in Russia soared from 54% a year ago to 83% now, matching the record of the data series in 2008, when he switched roles to become Prime Minister. The rating was, as Gallup put it, “likely propelled by a groundswell of national pride with the annexation of Crimea in March on the heels of the Sochi Olympic Games in February.”
By contrast, President Obama’s job approval rating in the US, according to Gallup’s daily tracker, languishes at a miserable 42%. Bad, but still head and shoulders above the most despised tax-and-retreat French President of the Fifth Republic, François Hollande, whose approval rating has finally stopped plunging once it got to about 20%.
But it’s not just Putin
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