Poll reveals Prigozhin’s approval rating slashed in half in aftermath of insurrection, while Putin’s reportedly remains unchanged
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s approval rating has plummeted to 29 percent, compared to 60 percent only a week ago.
The most recent opinion poll on Prigozhin was conducted by the independent polling agency Levada Center on June 25–28. In that round of polling, 11 percent of respondents said they approved of Wagner Group’s leader completely; another 18 percent expressed partial approval.
When the same question was asked in the June 22–23 round of polling, 30 percent of respondents expressed total approval of Prigozhin, while another 28 percent said they approved of him partially.
In the aftermath of the Prigozhin-led armed insurrection, only 10 percent of the poll’s respondents said they would vote for Prigozhin if he ran for president in 2024. Before the crisis, 19 percent of respondents in an earlier poll said they would have been prepared to vote for him.
Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s approval rating has also slipped following the mutiny. Whereas 60 percent of respondents voiced approval of Shoigu a week ago, his current approval rating is only 48 percent.
According to Levada Center, the mutiny hasn’t as much as dented Vladimir Putin’s approval rating. Before the attempted coup, it had been 82 percent. On the day of the insurrection, it dipped to 79 percent, and went back up to 82 percent as the crisis dissolved.
Regional politicians are nevertheless telling Meduza that, according to the internal reports shared by the Kremlin on June 29, the public’s trust in the president has plunged by 9–14 percent.
A source close the Kremlin has informed Meduza that the administration is trying to improve Putin’s popularity by increasing the number of his public appearances.
