April 12, 2026

A Rough Patch for Putin?


A Rough Patch for Putin?
Putin, gesturing his estimated approval rating. The Russian Life files.

A recent report by Russia's publicly-backed public research foundation FOM showed that President Putin's approval rating as of late March 2026 were at 71% — a paltry number for a leader who usually scores upwards of 80%.

This marks the lowest level of public trust in Putin since the start of Russia's  full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Experts point to a handful of potential causes: the forced culling of cattle, internet outages, and widespread repression have been wracking Russians in recent weeks. Add to this an economy teetering on the edge and a war that's lasted far longer than anyone anticipated, and falling numbers seem, if anything, overdue.

But does this mean that Putin is on his way out? Unlikely. While his popularity has taken a double-digit dip from less than a year ago, 71% is still more than a supermajority. 

Yet the fact that even state sources are reporting a decrease implies that his actual approval rating could be much, much lower.

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