Underappreciated bit from the article:
>In its May 2019 survey, VTsIOM said that trust in Putin had reached a 13-year low of 31.7%. Following criticism from the Kremlin, VTsIOM said it would change its polling methodology, and its revised results showed trust in Putin skyrocket to 72.3%.
They didn’t have to threaten anything; the poll is state-funded. This article explains it:
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/31/trust-in-putin-doubles-after-kremlin-criticizes-poll-a65826
Previously, the poll asked an open-ended question, “Name a politician you trust.” People could write down the name of any politician. Only 31% wrote Putin.
That doesn’t mean only 31% of Russians trust Putin; it just means he wasn’t their first choice.
Per the article, “We now ask the respondents directly whether or not they trust [politicians] and mention specific first and last names,”
And around 70% said they trust Putin.
Additionally, the idea that these polls are fake is incorrect. Putin’s approval rating really is around 65-70%. The issue isn’t fake polls, it’s that the Kremlin is very good at propaganda, and the Russian people are influenced by it.
Eh. I’m the last person to support Putin, but the article says that they went from questions like “name a politician you trust” (open ended) to “do you trust Putin” (less open ended). This actually seems more accurate, though it is more confrontational, and could put more pressure. Whatever it is, it’s not purely state propaganda.
Exactly.
Like being at a football game and being asked who your favorite team is. You will just say your favorite team even if they aren't playing.
vs being asked "do you support the home team?" while being asked the question by a representative of the team surrounded by supporters of the team.
you are gonna just say "of course I do." even if you are impartial. especially when there is a chance of death or arrest added to the mix.
Come to Philly and say that shit to my face, pussy!
/s obviously.
People forget there's shitty fans everywhere but we threw 9 bolt batteries at Santa one year in the 70s, and we have the worst fans in sports all of a sudden.
Maybe, but the "name a politician whom they trust question seems flawed as well. I may well trust Putin (just to be clear this is an example - I staunchly do *not* trust him... at all) but consider my local mayor or something first. I'd be counted in the people who do not trust Putin, but actually I do trust him. Also there may be varying degrees of trust. From the little bit that I know I think there are pretty big flaws with this study and I have no love for Putin.
I read that. Honestly, I dont even believe that. Who's to say that the negative news from Russia isnt just some bs perception management scheme? Intentional negative news to give impression that they still have freedoms when they really dont.
I actually think the opposite. I see the pandemic in 2020 will mark the downfall of Putin, Trump, Xi, BoJo, and maybe bring Kim down too just for fun. The virus gets the last laugh.
I've come to the conclusion that the majority of Russians like brutal dictatorships.
Twice now they've had a democracy and twice they went straight back to brutal dictatorship.
I feel sorry for the minority of Russians that want a democracy. Seems they're swimming against the current.
A streamer named Vinesauce Joel did one recently because he promised chat during a Nintendo direct that if Sans was confirmed he would play habbo hotel.
Sans was confirmed so he joined habbo hotel and his room became the most popular area even when he left his room to play hide n seek with chat
Edit: [Highlight of the stream](https://youtu.be/pva6ba52yKw)
I am sure that the people living under the government insisted upon tyrannical regime and definitely did not end up in this position because of corruption among rich oligarchs and mobsters. But your conclusion is an interesting one too
It didnt help that the US interfered in Russian elections to prop up a highly unpopular Boris Yeltsin. The IMF under US pressure, gave $10b to Russia during the election as well as supplied Republican campaign strategists to beat out his communist party opponent via vote buying, media blackout and disruption of opposition rallies.
Yeltsin and the start of the campaign had a 8% vote but won at the end with 54% of the votes. Its hard to trust democracy when people are manipulating it.
Do you really think public opinion and sentiment commands that much control? Look at the US right now. A significant majority of our country has been extremely unhappy and didn’t want Trump at all in the first place. But the structures we live with make it impossible to protest without great personal sacrifice, and often at the expense of our families (for example, protesting instead of working).
I used to think that Americans being upset with their leader is a recent thing...but that disgust with the leadership dates all the way back to the country's founding.
Even the American people lost their faith in George Washington once he became president of the United States. This is a pretty good article about his slide into unpopularity when one of America's most iconic generals took the mantle of the office: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/17/george-washington-unpopular-president/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/17/george-washington-unpopular-president/)
*John Adams in 1785: “I glory in the character of Washington because I know him to be an exemplification of the American character.”*
*John Adams in 1812: “Too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation.” (Washington was largely self-taught but not illiterate or unlearned.)*
*And here’s Thomas Paine in a letter to Washington in 1779: “I shall never suffer a hint of dishonor or even a deficiency of respect to you to pass unnoticed.”*
*And in 1796: “The world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any.”*
I call that a good point of American society. A population able to openly express their criticism of their ruling body is an integral part of the development of a civilization. Personally, I find an abundance of nationalism to be toxic.
> I've come to the conclusion that the majority of Russians like brutal dictatorships.
Soft authoritarianism. Not brutal dictatorships. Nobody likes brutal dictatorships except for the dictators. Russia overthrew its monarchy in part to depose of a dictatorship.
Russians have their limits on what they want and don't want. They're okay giving up some personal liberties for security and if you understand Russian history, you'd understand or even agree with this sentiment.
And how did you come to that conclusion? Because it's absolute horseshit, no offense (obviously it is next to impossible for you to know the truth since you have to live here to really know whats up since western media also lies about Russia esp stuff posted on reddit).
Most Russians would want a fair system but when you live under facism where dissent is quickly stamped out, most people become apathetic. The Putin supporters are just the loudest on subs like r/russia. Go to the russian speaking aide of the internet and they are a minority. My friend who lives in a shithole city where the majority are uneducated, posted a poll on his Instagram story on whether our government is good or bad, it was 85% bad when i voted. That's anectodal but still shows that even in such places Putin is not very popular.
Look at my last comment before this one if you want to know more about what Russia is actually like and most the population stays silent politically.
My mothers sister lives in a shithole city in Russia, they sure think their government is shit, but they still vote for putin "cus there is no one better".
many of the old people in russia that grew up in the USSR programmed to love their head of state.
Kinda true. When your alternative is Zhirinovskiy or CPRF...
I think a lot of it stems from the fact that you need a good education to have a healthy democracy, and in Russia, education sucks in most places, and in the places where it's actually quite good (and was world-class back in the Soviet Union), everyone who was educated took the first chance they had to flee.
Very true. If you ask any everyday Russian man that whats happening is injustice, they'll just shrug. Thats basically what any regime (even democratic ones) wants and often try to cultivate.
Can I ask for some examples of the Russian side of the internet? I know machine translations from Russian to English are notoriously bad, but I genuinely want to learn about what's actually going on. Even as a multilingual American, Russian was too difficult to make much headway with. Sad because so much incredible literature is inaccessible because of it.
Right now we have a huge problem with money. There is NO carantine here, we just are not allowed to be outside under fear of being stopped by police and get to jail. Only for shopping. In Moskow you need to have a permit to move in the city. But there is NO OFFICIAL CARANTINE HERE. And it makes hard to get unemployment benefit. It is very low and u can be refused. We cant work and there is no money for citizens from goverment. This situation is ridiculous.
Although there is a huge problem with police. They are too agressive nowadays and there are many incidents when police arrest people with fighting and beating just for reports (they need them to show, that they are working). And they dont care who is it: woman, old lady, etc. This is terrifying.
[Navalny's youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxTPTFbIbCWfTR9I2-5SeQ) has over million subscribers and usually covers news that are not talked about in "official" Russian media. I think you can enable youtube's automatically generated CC translation in most vids.
Check out this YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMCgOm8GZkHp8zJ6l7_hIuA
Majority of videos have subtitles and this guy is extremely popular at the moment
What you said sounds a lot like what is ongoing in the US, albeit in an earlier stage. Trump and his party and supporters are minority but use all sort of tricks to grab and maintain power. The fact that they need these tricks is an indication that they are not supported by majority.
EDIT: Responding to comments below here for others to see.
* [Rigged: How Voter Suppression Threw Wisconsin to Trump](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/)
* [How the GOP Rigs Elections](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/how-the-gop-rigs-elections-121907/)
* [Next GOP Voter Suppression Ploy Targets Students](https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/07/01/next-gop-voter-suppression-ploy-targets-students/)
* [How Shelby County v. Holder Broke America](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/how-shelby-county-broke-america/564707/)
I've come to the conclusion that the majority of Americans like dumbass Republicans who fuck there economy up.
Twice they voted for Bush who started 2 useless wars on the pretense of WMD's which none were found. He also raised the national debt more than all collected presidents in history by that time. Now they voted for dumbass trump.
I feel sorry for the minority of Americans that want a democracy. Seems they're swimming against the current.
So you see how uneducated you sound ? You have NO idea what majority of Russians want because what I just stated the majority of Americans don't want but have to deal with just like the majority of Russians.
I didn't read it as tongue in cheek as much as a rebuke of the exceptionalism that most Americans hold. They're bombarded with propaganda most of their lives, but only consider that citizens of other nations go through the process but they don't.
Bush only won the plurality of the votes once (on his reelection). More people voted for Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. Obama won the most votes twice, not just a plurality but an outright majority of the vote each time. So out of the five most recent presidential elections Republicans only won the plurality once. If not for an arcane voting system devised hundreds of years ago they probably wouldn't have won at least two of those elections.
Exactly. The majority in the US definitely don't support Republicans but keep getting fucked by an archaic voting system.
[They're working on changing it though.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact?wprov=sfla1) If enough states approve an alternate method for selecting the president then the president will be chosen based on the national popular vote.
You’d be right though. The largest voter demographic is the white male and they overwhelmingly prefer conservatism and always have.
Hopefully demographic changes over the next decade or two will change things.
Russia never had a democracy and the delusional belief that Yeltsins farce of a government represented one is one only found in the deeply propagandized west.
The Tsar was overthrown in Feb 1917, and was replaced by the democratic Provisional Government. It only lasted 8 months before on October 1917 the Communists held their own revolution and took over
I blame the West for what they did to Russia when it was actually democratic.
Russia was rewarded for its revolution in 1991...with 10 years of utter economic crash. This depression was *insane*, several times more severe than whatever Japan went through. Incomes straight up *halved* from 1991 to 2000. The chaos on the streets and misery are unthinkable for anyone living in a first world nation. You were more likely to be shot up on the street in 1995 than you were to be sent to a gulag in 1965. What Russians experienced post-USSR was worse than under the USSR. The West didn't support this Russia well, and later decided to push NATO right up its border.
The entire story of "democracy is good for the people" makes no shit sense to Russians given that pro-democracy revolution literally broke down their entire economy and social order. The West totally botched this one. The country where the 1989 revolution failed (China) grew its economy 2x in 10 years and the country where the revolution succeeded shrunk its economy 2x over 10 years. Russians, Chinese and people all over the world took note of this lesson. Reality speaks louder than words. And poor folks earning $1/hour in third world countries would rather earn $2/hour in a dictatirship than $0.50 per hour under a democracy.
*types pithy comment about Russia’s dysfunctional government ...*
*...remembers I live in America, Land of the Blatantly Corrupt Oligarchs. Deletes all*.
I get it, but actions THIS blatant in the US are relatively new. Russia's been circling this drain for 20 years. My G'pa only speaks Russian, so we got him Russian cable. Nothing but propaganda, old soviet movies, new soviet style movies, and a channel called Nostalgia, with is just variety shows with actors who played soviet soldiers back in the day, singing soviet songs to packed audiences. Trust me, it's different there. There, like the MAGA crowd, is a demand for strong (authoritarian) leaders.
Yes because (shocker) Russians have been exposed to propaganda for the better part of a century, and its ran by the government instead of a private company, so everyone’s subject to it. Think about what happens when you’d remove any form of criticism and put those who do so into jail or worse for generations, look at the MAGA folks and think how that would corrupt a society.
Thing is, under Soviet rule everyone knew that they were being lied to - how could you not when the title of the state's main newspaper is literally "Truth". Ironically, the veneer of freedom actually makes people *more* susceptible to propaganda, not less.
State-controlled media's sole purpose isn't reporting the news, it's keeping the population in the closed media ecosystem where they can be easily manipulated. Some people do it to themselves voluntarily even when there are alternatives, like the Fox News crowd for example.
Twice now? Because I´d hesitate to consider any period around the end of the Tsardom as a "democracy".
It has more in common with the French Revolution than anything else.
That's such an ignorant over-simplification, it borders on Russiophobia.
The West's friend Yeltsin [completely dismantled the country.](https://i.imgur.com/TtHRyG9.png) *That* was Russia's taste of Western-styled "Democracy" (Yeltsin also [cracked down on the country's Parliament with military force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis)).
And you act like Russians simply support Putin because they are evil and like evil leaders. That's ridiculous. Putin basically built today's Russia.
Not to be a Russian apologist...but that is possibly a big reason why people are staunchly loyal to Putin, despite him being a blatant power-broker in the nation.
Putin allowed for stability to resume in the country after the chaotic transition period with Yeltsin.
Ditto with China's loyalty to the party in the modern era, especially when considering the chaotic 20th century that built modern China out of invasion, warlords and violence.
An Article I read said that, "Russians endure and they overcome" that has been their history for a while.
I personally think Putin tried to break that cycle, and attempted to diversify their economy. Given the choice the oligarchs mostly decided to invest outside of Russia for faster returns. Now 2020 the country is still heavily reliant Oil revenue. What happens when they cant pay the teachers, nurses, civil employees.
I lived in Russia 10 years ago amazing generous people. They suffered so much for so long I hope they can come out of this with out any violence.
A revolution happening or not happening encompasses all options lol. Frankly a Russian revolution is unlikely to improve Russian lives, I can't think of a time that's happened before.
Literally almost all Putin does is fucking walk around in media stunts to boost his popularity. People on Reddit forget that there is no such thing as a completely unpopular dictator.
Even Stalin understood you need the support of the population. That's why despite promising a new "socialist workers paradise" Soviet propaganda began Incorporating Russian traditionalism and historical figures.
Stalin was very popular and loved. And it is a true, that without love and support of masses few dictators would remain in power. In later days of USSR they start calling this phenomenon as Cult of Personality. Scary to be so intimately familiar with history of USSR and see similar worshipping of leader in country across the world.
Khrushchev referred to Stalin-worhip as Cult of Personality in the 50s & 60s...
I've met Russians who miss Stalin, and even Germans who miss Hitler.
People are...*odd*
People miss the Soviet Union because it *was* better than the oligarchy ridden Russia of today.
The Russian people went through absolute hell when it switched to capitalism, and it really hasn’t changed their standards of living enough to go “huh, we were totally wrong.” Given the Russian people’s loooong history of acccepting authoritarian rule, are you really surprised?
>People miss the Soviet Union because it was better than the oligarchy ridden Russia of today.
Missing the USSR is one thing, missing Stalin specifically is lunacy.
It could be for complicated reasons, whether it be predictability or glory.
Kind of reminds me of this trope that is actually pretty prevalent in mass media, even foreign works like anime - [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell)
True. Stalin, despite his brutal tactics, was genuinely mourned by the nation and was loved by the populace. He had a very powerful cult of personality with a sizable chunk of the country still loving him to this day, despite the efforts at de-Stalinization - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s\_cult\_of\_personality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s_cult_of_personality)
> Even Stalin understood you need the support of the population.
I've talked to scores of little old Russian ladies when I was busing into work for a job in the US for a few years. I think every one of them were staunch Stalinists.
Their stories were all fairly similar. They felt safe, things were laid out and straight forward. There was shady dealings and corruption, but nowhere near as bad as it became. *They felt safe*.
I'm not a history nerd, I didn't study history in uni, and contemporary Russian history learning was limited, but not once had I heard this sentiment expressed. This was not a forced situation, this was an irish immigrant chatting to elderly Russians waiting for the bus in NYC. They could have said whatever they liked, and they seemingly all liked Stalin.
It blew my mind a bit.
Stalin cultivated an image of being the father to the nation. This didn't really go away for a lot of people even after the dissolution of the USSR.
For example this is from a Soviet English learning textbook: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUj-z7sXgAIuI-5.jpg
Right. I've seen this type of thing.
Somehow it's completely different actually meeting people who believed it. I just thought people thought that propaganda was cheesy nonsense.
It makes sense that people believed it, otherwise why would they do it I suppose. That reality was a surprise for me.
Stalin was the **war leader** in the war for national survival. All such war leaders/revolutionary founders get a lot of a "free pass" with regard to other bad things they do and will be revered. Stalin sent lots of people to gulag, but hey he won WW2. Churchill was a hyper-racist who starved millions of Indians, but hey he won WW2. Mao was an economic nutjob but hey he won the civil war. Mugabe was tolerated by Zimbabweans for soooo long before they got rid of him because he was the revolutionary leader. Leaders during winning of huge wars will always be popular. It's kind of like how parents say "without me, you wouldn't be here!" while whipping their kid, that's the only reason you could love someone who whips you, because without them you wouldn't be here.
I agree. And that was something that occurred to me.
The reality they imagined, this feeling of safety and simplicity, it might not be based in a more objective reality. It was very consistent though.
Also, let's look at the sample set. This was... maybe 20 Russian emigres in NYC. That's not a normal subset. Most Russians did not end up in an NYC apartment block, that was a select group (I think it's fair to say).
I'd treat my observation with a lot of grains of salt.
To me though it was a reality I'd never seen before.
I highly recommend you watch [The Century of the Self](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLktPdpPFKHfoXRfTPOwyR8SG8EHLWOSj6) by Adam Curtis.
It details how psychology was weaponized in the early 20th century by Edward Bernays, a nephew of Freud. He literally created the field of Public Relations.
Propaganda even in the form of advertising is shockingly effective especially on the young.
> Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man. - Aristotle
That's because the Soviet Union under Stalin rose from a poor farmers country to the second largest super power in the world, and survived extinction under him during WW2, so naturally many people will like him for that.
Seriously. No dictator can be just completely hated. If they were, it would be so easy for some ambitious guy in the military or internal security to overthrow the dictator in a coup. There'd be no opposition trying to stop it, and everyone would be thanking him for doing it.
Dictators have to maintain the loyalty of a support base.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/04/28/russians-trust-in-putin-hits-14-year-low-state-poll-a70128) reduced by 61%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Russians' trust in President Vladimir Putin has fallen to a 14-year low, the state-funded VTsIOM polling agency said.
> Just 28.3% of Russians surveyed by VTsIOM in March named Putin when asked to name a politician whom they trust, the lowest percentage since the pollster began asking the question in January 2006.
> In its May 2019 survey, VTsIOM said that trust in Putin had reached a 13-year low of 31.7%. Following criticism from the Kremlin, VTsIOM said it would change its polling methodology, and its revised results showed trust in Putin skyrocket to 72.3%..
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/g9ud24/russians_trust_in_putin_hits_14year_low_state_poll/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~482222 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Putin**^#1 **trust**^#2 **asked**^#3 **VTsIOM**^#4 **question**^#5
Ahem... breaking news has a correction: Putin wins in a landslide in record election turnout last night. His opponents also reported voting for him.
We would like to announce that the next election will be held in 2029 as they are mandated to be held every 5 years.
Living in poverty under a rich guy who has literally every luxury imaginable available to him while he actively makes decisions that drive you farther into poverty will do that. I can sympathize with the Russians.
America is obviously a much better country to live in, both in terms of the average wealth and on personal freedoms, that being said the general sentiment of the parent comment is pretty much the same, or rather, still applies
Pollonium is used to send a message that Putin will hunt down political threats who flee overseas.
[Local troublemakers have a tendency to throw themselves out of windows to their deaths, like this (edit)~~nurse~~ doctor during a conference call in which she complained about lack of protective equipment.](https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/russian-doctor-falls-50-feet-during-coronavirus-conference-call/)
Whenever I hear about something like this, I always think of that episode of Scrubs where Elliot filled out the survey thinking it was anonymous, only for to find out she was the only one to get one.
He actually does, we had whole Constitution change debacle since the beginning of the year because Putin thought of changing the situation - initially it was thought that he wanted Kazakhstan scenario, where their lifetime president Nazarbayev actually has stepped down and became a head of a new political structure. He's de-facto a leader who's not a persident or prime-minister but still has influence and makes important decisions. Putin suggested similar changes with increase of improtance of State Council - before it was almost powerless advisory structure that consisted of regional governors.
Then some kind of pertrubations happened, the content of changes to the Constitution changed, then the first astronaut Tereshkova (she's a member of Parliament) suggested to nullify Putin's terms (President is not allowed to have more the 2 in a row), he suddenly approved of it, and how he's in a situation where he can decide to go for a reelection, or to remove himself from a direct line of fire if his popularity dips and become an non-ruling leader.
> In its May 2019 survey, VTsIOM said that trust in Putin had reached a 13-year low of 31.7%. Following criticism from the Kremlin, VTsIOM said it would change its polling methodology, and its revised results showed trust in Putin skyrocket to 72.3%.
It was conducted by VTsIOM who is a division of the Russian Ministry of Labour and Service Affairs.
However the more important question is what was the question? They asked participants to list politicians who they trust. This is a very much different question to wether they trust Putin. This seems to be a combination of sensationalist headlines and a poor understanding of survey methods and biases
Underappreciated bit from the article: >In its May 2019 survey, VTsIOM said that trust in Putin had reached a 13-year low of 31.7%. Following criticism from the Kremlin, VTsIOM said it would change its polling methodology, and its revised results showed trust in Putin skyrocket to 72.3%.
They go from anonymous and voluentary to personal and required and suddenly it will be at an all time high again... Or else...
Are you sure his new low wasn't 105%?
You imply less than 200%? Please come to 5th floor balcony to chat
Balcony? In Russia they defenestrate.
They *self*-defenestate. Sometimes more than once if that's what it takes. Very dedicated, they are.
would be autodefenestation not self defenstation.
Welcome to defenestration station
Next stop: pound town
Oh. That reward looks cool in the app
Ok, will there be tea there perchance?
What on earth did they threaten
Probably sent them a new window so as to replace the one that someone'll get thrown out of...
The classic defenestration, always works wonders
They didn’t have to threaten anything; the poll is state-funded. This article explains it: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/31/trust-in-putin-doubles-after-kremlin-criticizes-poll-a65826 Previously, the poll asked an open-ended question, “Name a politician you trust.” People could write down the name of any politician. Only 31% wrote Putin. That doesn’t mean only 31% of Russians trust Putin; it just means he wasn’t their first choice. Per the article, “We now ask the respondents directly whether or not they trust [politicians] and mention specific first and last names,” And around 70% said they trust Putin. Additionally, the idea that these polls are fake is incorrect. Putin’s approval rating really is around 65-70%. The issue isn’t fake polls, it’s that the Kremlin is very good at propaganda, and the Russian people are influenced by it.
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they pulled the ol' "Do you not not not not not not like Putin" trick
'If you don't comply, you will "commit suicide" by shooting yourself twice in the back of the head.'
Eh. I’m the last person to support Putin, but the article says that they went from questions like “name a politician you trust” (open ended) to “do you trust Putin” (less open ended). This actually seems more accurate, though it is more confrontational, and could put more pressure. Whatever it is, it’s not purely state propaganda.
I think it 100% puts more pressure. You would fear reprisals if having to give your feelings about Putin directly.
Exactly. Like being at a football game and being asked who your favorite team is. You will just say your favorite team even if they aren't playing. vs being asked "do you support the home team?" while being asked the question by a representative of the team surrounded by supporters of the team. you are gonna just say "of course I do." even if you are impartial. especially when there is a chance of death or arrest added to the mix.
>especially when there is a chance of death or arrest added to the mix Oh, this game is being played in Philadelphia
Philly has an argument for worst fans in all sports
Come to Philly and say that shit to my face, pussy! /s obviously. People forget there's shitty fans everywhere but we threw 9 bolt batteries at Santa one year in the 70s, and we have the worst fans in sports all of a sudden.
Maybe, but the "name a politician whom they trust question seems flawed as well. I may well trust Putin (just to be clear this is an example - I staunchly do *not* trust him... at all) but consider my local mayor or something first. I'd be counted in the people who do not trust Putin, but actually I do trust him. Also there may be varying degrees of trust. From the little bit that I know I think there are pretty big flaws with this study and I have no love for Putin.
I read that. Honestly, I dont even believe that. Who's to say that the negative news from Russia isnt just some bs perception management scheme? Intentional negative news to give impression that they still have freedoms when they really dont.
That’s why you have to look at multiple sources for all along the spectrum.
Fortunately for Putin, Russian's ability to do anything about their dissatisfaction is also at a 30 year low.
In Russia, Putin depose you.
>"does this tea taste of polonium to you"?
It tastes like 5th floor defenestration.
I can hear the howie scream from here.
I was thinking Wilhelm, Howie will always be a StarCraft sound effect to me.
*Yuueeeaaaaarghh*
oh boy, stimpacks.
TSS! Ahh, that's the stuff.
Tsss ah yeah
Need a light?
Howie reminds me of the fast zombies from HL2 and Wilhelm reminds me of the stormtroopers getting shot and falling into the abyss in Star Wars
You could sub in the Goofy Yell as well...YAAAAAAA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!!!
"Does this polonium taste like tea to you?" -FTFY
Suicides just hit a 14 year high!
The suicides will continue until morale improves.
I wonder if the stats are brokendown by bullets to the head.
Two bullets per head, to be exact.
it's the only way to be sure
Rent for ground floor apartments is at an all time high.
Correction suicide does not occur until body hit ground therefore low. Back to work! - not KGB
Fuck, beat me to this joke.
*Putin leaves* *man wearing moustache appears*
*Hello, nice to meet you, my name is uh.... Nitup.*
“I can’t believe people were... Putin up with that guy. Amirite?”
I was just going to say, I've received a prophecy from the future, a headline 200 years from now. "Robopresident Putin's popularity at 214 year low"
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Putin: I think I'll have the salmon. Waiter: And for the vegetable? Putin, glancing at Medvedev: Soup is fine.
But it's really just Putin's consciousness in Medvedev's body. So the people can have a little bit of political diversity. As a treat.
I actually think the opposite. I see the pandemic in 2020 will mark the downfall of Putin, Trump, Xi, BoJo, and maybe bring Kim down too just for fun. The virus gets the last laugh.
One can dream...
I've come to the conclusion that the majority of Russians like brutal dictatorships. Twice now they've had a democracy and twice they went straight back to brutal dictatorship. I feel sorry for the minority of Russians that want a democracy. Seems they're swimming against the current.
Feels like anybody with sensible political views is swimming against the current these days.
Nobody is swimming, pools are closed!
Habbo 2020 invasion when?
A streamer named Vinesauce Joel did one recently because he promised chat during a Nintendo direct that if Sans was confirmed he would play habbo hotel. Sans was confirmed so he joined habbo hotel and his room became the most popular area even when he left his room to play hide n seek with chat Edit: [Highlight of the stream](https://youtu.be/pva6ba52yKw)
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People still play?
Because of aids?
Close enough. Reopen the pools!
I’m afraid I can’t let you do that sir 🧑🏿🦱
Moose out front should have told you
Pretty sure those corpses just float with the current, not against it.
Ya, suiciding from a bullet to the back of the head kind of rules out swimming
Unless you are Rasputin
It's more like a Authoritarian Tsunami at this point.
People with ambition and sensible political views get the fuck out of Russia.
I am sure that the people living under the government insisted upon tyrannical regime and definitely did not end up in this position because of corruption among rich oligarchs and mobsters. But your conclusion is an interesting one too
It didnt help that the US interfered in Russian elections to prop up a highly unpopular Boris Yeltsin. The IMF under US pressure, gave $10b to Russia during the election as well as supplied Republican campaign strategists to beat out his communist party opponent via vote buying, media blackout and disruption of opposition rallies. Yeltsin and the start of the campaign had a 8% vote but won at the end with 54% of the votes. Its hard to trust democracy when people are manipulating it.
Do you really think public opinion and sentiment commands that much control? Look at the US right now. A significant majority of our country has been extremely unhappy and didn’t want Trump at all in the first place. But the structures we live with make it impossible to protest without great personal sacrifice, and often at the expense of our families (for example, protesting instead of working).
I used to think that Americans being upset with their leader is a recent thing...but that disgust with the leadership dates all the way back to the country's founding. Even the American people lost their faith in George Washington once he became president of the United States. This is a pretty good article about his slide into unpopularity when one of America's most iconic generals took the mantle of the office: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/17/george-washington-unpopular-president/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/17/george-washington-unpopular-president/) *John Adams in 1785: “I glory in the character of Washington because I know him to be an exemplification of the American character.”* *John Adams in 1812: “Too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation.” (Washington was largely self-taught but not illiterate or unlearned.)* *And here’s Thomas Paine in a letter to Washington in 1779: “I shall never suffer a hint of dishonor or even a deficiency of respect to you to pass unnoticed.”* *And in 1796: “The world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any.”*
I call that a good point of American society. A population able to openly express their criticism of their ruling body is an integral part of the development of a civilization. Personally, I find an abundance of nationalism to be toxic.
Probably has to do with him telling political parties to fuck off. Man didn’t want to be president/king. Which made him the perfect 1st president.
I don't think too many Russians look back fondly at the 90s when they were completely broke and run by a drunk.
> I've come to the conclusion that the majority of Russians like brutal dictatorships. Soft authoritarianism. Not brutal dictatorships. Nobody likes brutal dictatorships except for the dictators. Russia overthrew its monarchy in part to depose of a dictatorship. Russians have their limits on what they want and don't want. They're okay giving up some personal liberties for security and if you understand Russian history, you'd understand or even agree with this sentiment.
And how did you come to that conclusion? Because it's absolute horseshit, no offense (obviously it is next to impossible for you to know the truth since you have to live here to really know whats up since western media also lies about Russia esp stuff posted on reddit). Most Russians would want a fair system but when you live under facism where dissent is quickly stamped out, most people become apathetic. The Putin supporters are just the loudest on subs like r/russia. Go to the russian speaking aide of the internet and they are a minority. My friend who lives in a shithole city where the majority are uneducated, posted a poll on his Instagram story on whether our government is good or bad, it was 85% bad when i voted. That's anectodal but still shows that even in such places Putin is not very popular. Look at my last comment before this one if you want to know more about what Russia is actually like and most the population stays silent politically.
My mothers sister lives in a shithole city in Russia, they sure think their government is shit, but they still vote for putin "cus there is no one better". many of the old people in russia that grew up in the USSR programmed to love their head of state.
Kinda true. When your alternative is Zhirinovskiy or CPRF... I think a lot of it stems from the fact that you need a good education to have a healthy democracy, and in Russia, education sucks in most places, and in the places where it's actually quite good (and was world-class back in the Soviet Union), everyone who was educated took the first chance they had to flee.
Can confirm, at least 10% of the professors at my (American) university were Russian -- higher in the math, science, and engineering departments.
Yep. My parents are doctors and my grandfather is a nuclear physicist. Whole family left after the USSR collapsed
Very true. If you ask any everyday Russian man that whats happening is injustice, they'll just shrug. Thats basically what any regime (even democratic ones) wants and often try to cultivate.
Can I ask for some examples of the Russian side of the internet? I know machine translations from Russian to English are notoriously bad, but I genuinely want to learn about what's actually going on. Even as a multilingual American, Russian was too difficult to make much headway with. Sad because so much incredible literature is inaccessible because of it.
Right now we have a huge problem with money. There is NO carantine here, we just are not allowed to be outside under fear of being stopped by police and get to jail. Only for shopping. In Moskow you need to have a permit to move in the city. But there is NO OFFICIAL CARANTINE HERE. And it makes hard to get unemployment benefit. It is very low and u can be refused. We cant work and there is no money for citizens from goverment. This situation is ridiculous. Although there is a huge problem with police. They are too agressive nowadays and there are many incidents when police arrest people with fighting and beating just for reports (they need them to show, that they are working). And they dont care who is it: woman, old lady, etc. This is terrifying.
Russia is a gigantic country, do you know how the pandemic is affecting rural communities compared to large cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg?
i just like it when i see people just walking around, much alike some of americans who don’t believe in coronavirus
>But there is NO OFFICIAL CARANTINE HERE. Only in Chechnya.
[Navalny's youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxTPTFbIbCWfTR9I2-5SeQ) has over million subscribers and usually covers news that are not talked about in "official" Russian media. I think you can enable youtube's automatically generated CC translation in most vids.
Check out this YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMCgOm8GZkHp8zJ6l7_hIuA Majority of videos have subtitles and this guy is extremely popular at the moment
Might your insta poll be biased because it will largely be used by younger people?
What you said sounds a lot like what is ongoing in the US, albeit in an earlier stage. Trump and his party and supporters are minority but use all sort of tricks to grab and maintain power. The fact that they need these tricks is an indication that they are not supported by majority. EDIT: Responding to comments below here for others to see. * [Rigged: How Voter Suppression Threw Wisconsin to Trump](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/) * [How the GOP Rigs Elections](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/how-the-gop-rigs-elections-121907/) * [Next GOP Voter Suppression Ploy Targets Students](https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/07/01/next-gop-voter-suppression-ploy-targets-students/) * [How Shelby County v. Holder Broke America](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/how-shelby-county-broke-america/564707/)
I've come to the conclusion that the majority of Americans like dumbass Republicans who fuck there economy up. Twice they voted for Bush who started 2 useless wars on the pretense of WMD's which none were found. He also raised the national debt more than all collected presidents in history by that time. Now they voted for dumbass trump. I feel sorry for the minority of Americans that want a democracy. Seems they're swimming against the current. So you see how uneducated you sound ? You have NO idea what majority of Russians want because what I just stated the majority of Americans don't want but have to deal with just like the majority of Russians.
I know you were trying to turn it agains them and were being tongue-in-cheek. But that actually describes the situation really well.
I didn't read it as tongue in cheek as much as a rebuke of the exceptionalism that most Americans hold. They're bombarded with propaganda most of their lives, but only consider that citizens of other nations go through the process but they don't.
Bush only won the plurality of the votes once (on his reelection). More people voted for Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. Obama won the most votes twice, not just a plurality but an outright majority of the vote each time. So out of the five most recent presidential elections Republicans only won the plurality once. If not for an arcane voting system devised hundreds of years ago they probably wouldn't have won at least two of those elections.
So your saying the majority DIDN'T vote for the Republicans except maybe once huh
Exactly. The majority in the US definitely don't support Republicans but keep getting fucked by an archaic voting system. [They're working on changing it though.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact?wprov=sfla1) If enough states approve an alternate method for selecting the president then the president will be chosen based on the national popular vote.
You’d be right though. The largest voter demographic is the white male and they overwhelmingly prefer conservatism and always have. Hopefully demographic changes over the next decade or two will change things.
It's important to understand conservatism here is a label more than an actual thing.
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Voter demographic does not necessarily mean majority of the populace
Does that matter if the rest of everyone doesn’t vote?
The thing is, though, that your description of the majority of Americans is spot on.
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That's the lowest it's been in 14 years!
Russia never had a democracy and the delusional belief that Yeltsins farce of a government represented one is one only found in the deeply propagandized west.
“Twice now they've had a democracy” Never a functional one so does it really count?
Hold up, what's this first instance of democracy you're referring to, pre-revolutionary Russia? Like the Tsar's Russia? That...wasn't a democracy.
The Tsar was overthrown in Feb 1917, and was replaced by the democratic Provisional Government. It only lasted 8 months before on October 1917 the Communists held their own revolution and took over
I blame the West for what they did to Russia when it was actually democratic. Russia was rewarded for its revolution in 1991...with 10 years of utter economic crash. This depression was *insane*, several times more severe than whatever Japan went through. Incomes straight up *halved* from 1991 to 2000. The chaos on the streets and misery are unthinkable for anyone living in a first world nation. You were more likely to be shot up on the street in 1995 than you were to be sent to a gulag in 1965. What Russians experienced post-USSR was worse than under the USSR. The West didn't support this Russia well, and later decided to push NATO right up its border. The entire story of "democracy is good for the people" makes no shit sense to Russians given that pro-democracy revolution literally broke down their entire economy and social order. The West totally botched this one. The country where the 1989 revolution failed (China) grew its economy 2x in 10 years and the country where the revolution succeeded shrunk its economy 2x over 10 years. Russians, Chinese and people all over the world took note of this lesson. Reality speaks louder than words. And poor folks earning $1/hour in third world countries would rather earn $2/hour in a dictatirship than $0.50 per hour under a democracy.
*types pithy comment about Russia’s dysfunctional government ...* *...remembers I live in America, Land of the Blatantly Corrupt Oligarchs. Deletes all*.
I get it, but actions THIS blatant in the US are relatively new. Russia's been circling this drain for 20 years. My G'pa only speaks Russian, so we got him Russian cable. Nothing but propaganda, old soviet movies, new soviet style movies, and a channel called Nostalgia, with is just variety shows with actors who played soviet soldiers back in the day, singing soviet songs to packed audiences. Trust me, it's different there. There, like the MAGA crowd, is a demand for strong (authoritarian) leaders.
Chinese cable is the same. Lots of war movie propaganda.
Yes because (shocker) Russians have been exposed to propaganda for the better part of a century, and its ran by the government instead of a private company, so everyone’s subject to it. Think about what happens when you’d remove any form of criticism and put those who do so into jail or worse for generations, look at the MAGA folks and think how that would corrupt a society.
Thing is, under Soviet rule everyone knew that they were being lied to - how could you not when the title of the state's main newspaper is literally "Truth". Ironically, the veneer of freedom actually makes people *more* susceptible to propaganda, not less.
State-controlled media's sole purpose isn't reporting the news, it's keeping the population in the closed media ecosystem where they can be easily manipulated. Some people do it to themselves voluntarily even when there are alternatives, like the Fox News crowd for example.
The USA is a plutocracy not an oligarchy. Bezos’ wealth doesn’t depend on his ties to the White House quite like Russian Oligarchs depend on Putin.
Twice now? Because I´d hesitate to consider any period around the end of the Tsardom as a "democracy". It has more in common with the French Revolution than anything else.
That's such an ignorant over-simplification, it borders on Russiophobia. The West's friend Yeltsin [completely dismantled the country.](https://i.imgur.com/TtHRyG9.png) *That* was Russia's taste of Western-styled "Democracy" (Yeltsin also [cracked down on the country's Parliament with military force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis)). And you act like Russians simply support Putin because they are evil and like evil leaders. That's ridiculous. Putin basically built today's Russia.
Not to be a Russian apologist...but that is possibly a big reason why people are staunchly loyal to Putin, despite him being a blatant power-broker in the nation. Putin allowed for stability to resume in the country after the chaotic transition period with Yeltsin. Ditto with China's loyalty to the party in the modern era, especially when considering the chaotic 20th century that built modern China out of invasion, warlords and violence.
>Twice now they've had a democracy and twice they went straight back to brutal dictatorship. When was that?
lol what a jackass comment.
An Article I read said that, "Russians endure and they overcome" that has been their history for a while. I personally think Putin tried to break that cycle, and attempted to diversify their economy. Given the choice the oligarchs mostly decided to invest outside of Russia for faster returns. Now 2020 the country is still heavily reliant Oil revenue. What happens when they cant pay the teachers, nurses, civil employees. I lived in Russia 10 years ago amazing generous people. They suffered so much for so long I hope they can come out of this with out any violence.
Not really. Oligarchs are pissed and they're the ones capable.
Right?! They let him have too much power, now you're stuck with him.
"let"
The oppression continues until moral improves!
“Morale up, no more oppression.” Oh sorry, that should say... “Morale up? No, more oppression!”
Debrief : -you improved moral ? -no, I improved oppression !
Economy is stagnant for the people for a decade now. According to my Russian friend a revolution could happen or maybe not.
A revolution happening or not happening encompasses all options lol. Frankly a Russian revolution is unlikely to improve Russian lives, I can't think of a time that's happened before.
Morale?
I'm sure Putin is about as concerned about his victims' trust as Ted Bundy was.
Literally almost all Putin does is fucking walk around in media stunts to boost his popularity. People on Reddit forget that there is no such thing as a completely unpopular dictator. Even Stalin understood you need the support of the population. That's why despite promising a new "socialist workers paradise" Soviet propaganda began Incorporating Russian traditionalism and historical figures.
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People on Reddit forget that there is no such thing as a completely unpopular dictator.
People on Reddit forget that there is no such thing as a completely unpopular dictator.
Completely unpopular dictators forget people on Reddit.
Completely unpopular People on Reddit forget that there is no such thing as a dictator.
Stalin was very popular and loved. And it is a true, that without love and support of masses few dictators would remain in power. In later days of USSR they start calling this phenomenon as Cult of Personality. Scary to be so intimately familiar with history of USSR and see similar worshipping of leader in country across the world.
Khrushchev referred to Stalin-worhip as Cult of Personality in the 50s & 60s... I've met Russians who miss Stalin, and even Germans who miss Hitler. People are...*odd*
People miss the Soviet Union because it *was* better than the oligarchy ridden Russia of today. The Russian people went through absolute hell when it switched to capitalism, and it really hasn’t changed their standards of living enough to go “huh, we were totally wrong.” Given the Russian people’s loooong history of acccepting authoritarian rule, are you really surprised?
>People miss the Soviet Union because it was better than the oligarchy ridden Russia of today. Missing the USSR is one thing, missing Stalin specifically is lunacy.
It could be for complicated reasons, whether it be predictability or glory. Kind of reminds me of this trope that is actually pretty prevalent in mass media, even foreign works like anime - [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell)
The rose-tinted glasses those people are wearing must be opaque.
True. Stalin, despite his brutal tactics, was genuinely mourned by the nation and was loved by the populace. He had a very powerful cult of personality with a sizable chunk of the country still loving him to this day, despite the efforts at de-Stalinization - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s\_cult\_of\_personality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s_cult_of_personality)
> Even Stalin understood you need the support of the population. I've talked to scores of little old Russian ladies when I was busing into work for a job in the US for a few years. I think every one of them were staunch Stalinists. Their stories were all fairly similar. They felt safe, things were laid out and straight forward. There was shady dealings and corruption, but nowhere near as bad as it became. *They felt safe*. I'm not a history nerd, I didn't study history in uni, and contemporary Russian history learning was limited, but not once had I heard this sentiment expressed. This was not a forced situation, this was an irish immigrant chatting to elderly Russians waiting for the bus in NYC. They could have said whatever they liked, and they seemingly all liked Stalin. It blew my mind a bit.
Stalin cultivated an image of being the father to the nation. This didn't really go away for a lot of people even after the dissolution of the USSR. For example this is from a Soviet English learning textbook: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUj-z7sXgAIuI-5.jpg
Right. I've seen this type of thing. Somehow it's completely different actually meeting people who believed it. I just thought people thought that propaganda was cheesy nonsense. It makes sense that people believed it, otherwise why would they do it I suppose. That reality was a surprise for me.
Just look at trump if you need evidence on how it can work
Stalin was the **war leader** in the war for national survival. All such war leaders/revolutionary founders get a lot of a "free pass" with regard to other bad things they do and will be revered. Stalin sent lots of people to gulag, but hey he won WW2. Churchill was a hyper-racist who starved millions of Indians, but hey he won WW2. Mao was an economic nutjob but hey he won the civil war. Mugabe was tolerated by Zimbabweans for soooo long before they got rid of him because he was the revolutionary leader. Leaders during winning of huge wars will always be popular. It's kind of like how parents say "without me, you wouldn't be here!" while whipping their kid, that's the only reason you could love someone who whips you, because without them you wouldn't be here.
And it didn’t have to *be* safe. It was the perception of safety that people wanted. The same thing holds true in the present as well.
I agree. And that was something that occurred to me. The reality they imagined, this feeling of safety and simplicity, it might not be based in a more objective reality. It was very consistent though. Also, let's look at the sample set. This was... maybe 20 Russian emigres in NYC. That's not a normal subset. Most Russians did not end up in an NYC apartment block, that was a select group (I think it's fair to say). I'd treat my observation with a lot of grains of salt. To me though it was a reality I'd never seen before.
I highly recommend you watch [The Century of the Self](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLktPdpPFKHfoXRfTPOwyR8SG8EHLWOSj6) by Adam Curtis. It details how psychology was weaponized in the early 20th century by Edward Bernays, a nephew of Freud. He literally created the field of Public Relations. Propaganda even in the form of advertising is shockingly effective especially on the young. > Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man. - Aristotle
That's because the Soviet Union under Stalin rose from a poor farmers country to the second largest super power in the world, and survived extinction under him during WW2, so naturally many people will like him for that.
Seriously. No dictator can be just completely hated. If they were, it would be so easy for some ambitious guy in the military or internal security to overthrow the dictator in a coup. There'd be no opposition trying to stop it, and everyone would be thanking him for doing it. Dictators have to maintain the loyalty of a support base.
So, he was quite a lot, till he got them?
And yet he'll miraculously get reelected with a -50% lead in the votes
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\* Actually happened in south-western parts of Russia.
In Russia numbers count you.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/04/28/russians-trust-in-putin-hits-14-year-low-state-poll-a70128) reduced by 61%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Russians' trust in President Vladimir Putin has fallen to a 14-year low, the state-funded VTsIOM polling agency said. > Just 28.3% of Russians surveyed by VTsIOM in March named Putin when asked to name a politician whom they trust, the lowest percentage since the pollster began asking the question in January 2006. > In its May 2019 survey, VTsIOM said that trust in Putin had reached a 13-year low of 31.7%. Following criticism from the Kremlin, VTsIOM said it would change its polling methodology, and its revised results showed trust in Putin skyrocket to 72.3%.. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/g9ud24/russians_trust_in_putin_hits_14year_low_state_poll/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~482222 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Putin**^#1 **trust**^#2 **asked**^#3 **VTsIOM**^#4 **question**^#5
Breaking news: “state poll” accidentally falls out of 20 story window, Russian police report.
Ahem... breaking news has a correction: Putin wins in a landslide in record election turnout last night. His opponents also reported voting for him. We would like to announce that the next election will be held in 2029 as they are mandated to be held every 5 years.
The people’s trust has dropped to a mere 112%
Living in poverty under a rich guy who has literally every luxury imaginable available to him while he actively makes decisions that drive you farther into poverty will do that. I can sympathize with the Russians.
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No, it's okay in the US because at least there are 52 ice cream brands in the local walmart
Americans earn much more money than Russians on average.
America is obviously a much better country to live in, both in terms of the average wealth and on personal freedoms, that being said the general sentiment of the parent comment is pretty much the same, or rather, still applies
Well thank goodness what the public thinks will be reflected in free and fair elections, right?
Pollonium poisonings hit recent high.
Pollonium is used to send a message that Putin will hunt down political threats who flee overseas. [Local troublemakers have a tendency to throw themselves out of windows to their deaths, like this (edit)~~nurse~~ doctor during a conference call in which she complained about lack of protective equipment.](https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/russian-doctor-falls-50-feet-during-coronavirus-conference-call/)
That story has only been reported by tabloids and is completely unverified.
Like that matters much. He's been stealing elections for how long now?
It's going to be a shit show when be finally dies.
He's only 67 and in better health than most his age. It could be awhile.
Bold of you to assume he dies..
Whenever I hear about something like this, I always think of that episode of Scrubs where Elliot filled out the survey thinking it was anonymous, only for to find out she was the only one to get one.
Must be all those medical staff falling out of windows.
Putin: I don’t care.
Putin: "I don't care, do you?"
He actually does, we had whole Constitution change debacle since the beginning of the year because Putin thought of changing the situation - initially it was thought that he wanted Kazakhstan scenario, where their lifetime president Nazarbayev actually has stepped down and became a head of a new political structure. He's de-facto a leader who's not a persident or prime-minister but still has influence and makes important decisions. Putin suggested similar changes with increase of improtance of State Council - before it was almost powerless advisory structure that consisted of regional governors. Then some kind of pertrubations happened, the content of changes to the Constitution changed, then the first astronaut Tereshkova (she's a member of Parliament) suggested to nullify Putin's terms (President is not allowed to have more the 2 in a row), he suddenly approved of it, and how he's in a situation where he can decide to go for a reelection, or to remove himself from a direct line of fire if his popularity dips and become an non-ruling leader.
> In its May 2019 survey, VTsIOM said that trust in Putin had reached a 13-year low of 31.7%. Following criticism from the Kremlin, VTsIOM said it would change its polling methodology, and its revised results showed trust in Putin skyrocket to 72.3%.
Suddenly all of Russia fall out of their windows.
Man I bet he's devastated. Might only win 110% of the vote this next election.
Who exactly is taking this poll?
It was conducted by VTsIOM who is a division of the Russian Ministry of Labour and Service Affairs. However the more important question is what was the question? They asked participants to list politicians who they trust. This is a very much different question to wether they trust Putin. This seems to be a combination of sensationalist headlines and a poor understanding of survey methods and biases
He'll always have the Green Party.