Levada Center: Youth support for Putin drops to 20 percent

According to the results of a new survey from the independent Levada Center, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ratings remain at pre-quarantine levels — if presidential elections were to be held next weekend, 39 percent of Russian citizens would cast their vote for him. In December 2019, the share of Russians ready to support Putin was 38 percent.

Notably, the next most popular answers among respondents were “I would not vote” (24 percent) and “I don’t know who to vote for” (16 percent).

As underscored by Open Media, the survey results show that political preferences in Russia are changing among different age groups. Over the past year, the share of 18 to 24 year olds ready to vote for Putin fell from 36 percent to 20 percent. On the other hand, among people between the ages of 40 and 54, support for the current president grew from 31 percent to 39 percent.

Political preferences among the age groups 25 to 39 and 55 plus remain stable. Like last year, 30 percent and 51 percent of them, respectively, are prepared to vote for Putin.

Changes in the moods of young people are an important indicator of the fact that people have stopped accepting and reproducing official discourse, political analyst Abbas Gallyamov believes. The reaction of young people anticipates what will happen with the rest of the age groups in the future.