Putin’s high approval ratings remain a mystery to the west. But Russians haven’t been brainwashedThe recent failure of opinion polls ahead of the British elections has sparked much soul-searching in Westminster circles. Pollsters, we are told, have eroded the public’s faith in politics and should consider resigning en masse.I sometimes wonder what those same commentators would make of opinion polls carried out in an authoritarian system like today’s Russia. After last year’s annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings sky-rocketed to 85% and have more or less stayed there since. As a result, many have come to see Russian society …read more
Source: The Guardian
