Putin’s approval rating just posted its steepest drop since Russia invaded Ukraine
The Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) recorded a five-percentage-point drop in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating over a single week, pushing it to 66 percent — the steepest weekly decline since the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine.
A FOM poll conducted July 10–12 also showed Putin’s trust rating falling from 69 percent to 67 percent.
The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) recorded a similar decline. The state-owned polling center put Putin’s approval rating at 65.1 percent for the week of July 6–12, down 0.9 percentage points, while his trust rating slipped 1.3 percentage points to 71 percent.
In early July, VTsIOM had recorded the fastest weekly decline in Putin’s trust rating since the start of the war — a 3.4-percentage-point drop that broke the previous 2026 record, a 1.8-percentage-point fall set in early April.
The Russian polling organizations FOM and VTsIOM began recording declines in Putin’s ratings in spring 2026, attributing the falling numbers in part to internet restrictions and the blocking of Telegram. The decline continued as Russia faced a fuel crisis.
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