(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Russia are content with their country’s financial status, according to a poll by the Public Opinion Foundation. 57 per cent of respondents say the state of Russia’s economy is satisfactory, while 22 per cent say it is poor.

Russian voters renewed the State Duma in December 2007. United Russia (YR)—whose candidate list was headed by then president Vladimir Putin—secured 64.1 per cent of the vote and 315 of the legislature’s 450 seats. On that same month, Putin endorsed Dmitry Medvedev as a presidential candidate, and Medvedev said it would be of the "utmost importance" to have Putin as prime minister.

In March, Medvedev easily won Russia’s presidential election with 70.28 per cent of the vote. In May, Medvedev was sworn in as president. His nomination of Putin as prime minister was confirmed by the State Duma in a 392-56 vote.

On Oct. 6, Russia’s stock market (RTS) dropped by 19.1 per cent, marking the worst day in its history. Since May, the RTS has dropped by 64 per cent. Ron Smith, of Russia’s Alfa Bank, commented on the situation, saying, "It’s hard to see what will break this cycle" of falling stocks in the country, adding, "The problem is that people are having to revisit their fundamental underlying assumptions—as to what economic growth is going to be, [what] inflation [will be]. When everything is based on quicksand, nobody really knows what the final answer is going to be."

Polling Data

How would you rate the state of Russia’s economy?

Source: Public Opinion Foundation
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,500 Russian adults, conducted on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28, 2008. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent.

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