March 16, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Russia want Vladimir Putin to continue to have a say in political decisions once his presidential tenure expires this year, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 56 per cent of respondents think Putin should remain a visible figure, and 25 per cent believe he should remain in charge of the country’s basic authority.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Russia want Vladimir Putin to continue to have a say in political decisions once his presidential tenure expires this year, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 56 per cent of respondents think Putin should remain a visible figure, and 25 per cent believe he should remain in charge of the country’s basic authority.

Only 10 per cent of respondents think the outgoing head of state should allow his successor to be completely independent.

Putin was elected to a second term as president in March 2004 with 71.31 per cent of all cast ballots. In April 2005, Putin ruled out seeking a new mandate, saying, "I will not change the constitution and in line with the constitution, you cannot run for president three times in a row."

Russian voters renewed the State Duma in December 2007. United Russia (YR)—whose candidate list was headed by Putin—secured 64.1 per cent of the vote and 315 of the legislature’s 450 seats.

In December 2007, Putin endorsed Dmitry Medvedev as a presidential candidate, and Medvedev said it would be of the "utmost importance" to have Putin as prime minister.

On Mar. 14, Medvedev easily won Russia’s presidential election with 70.28 per cent of the vote. Medvedev is scheduled to be sworn in on May 7, but has already moved into the Kremlin and is working from there.

On Mar. 13, Putin told Chinese authorities that Russia will strengthen bilateral ties during Medvedev’s presidency. In a statement, the Russian government said that "Putin and [Chinese president] Hu Jintao exchanged sincere wishes of success in future work for the stable development of the two countries in the period after the election of the new Russian president. (...) Putin underlined that the course of comprehensive development of Russian-Chinese strategic cooperation will be continued in the future."

Polling Data

What, in your view, must be the place of Vladimir Putin in Russian politics after he leaves the presidency?

Putin must remain in charge of the country’s basic authority	25%
Putin must remain a visible figure, but the basic authority should be the president	56%
Putin should allow the new president to be completely independent	10%
Hard to answer	9%

Source: All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17, 2008. Margin of error is 3.4 per cent.