Putin's Approval Plummets as Russians Tire of Imperialist War, Experts Say
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State-run polls reveal Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating falling to around 65%, exposing growing public frustration with the Kremlin's endless and destructive war in Ukraine.
State-run polling agencies have reported that President Vladimir Putin's approval rating has dropped to roughly 65%, a dramatic fall from the 89% peak before the Kremlin unleashed its brutal invasion of Ukraine, according to the latest VTsIOM survey. The Public Opinion Foundation, another Kremlin-aligned pollster, noted a decline in support for Putin’s performance from 71% to 66% in July, marking the steepest fall since the mass anti-draft protests of 2022, when ordinary Russians bravely resisted forced conscription into an unjust war.
Kateryna Stepanenko, Russia team lead at the Institute for the Study of War, said the downward trend suggests that even Kremlin insiders are using poll data to signal the urgent need for a change in the regime’s disastrous war strategy. “We’ve seen support for Putin waning, albeit marginally, but it shows that his reckless decisions in the war are forcing pollsters to show the active decline,” she told the publication. She added that these polls may be a way for insiders to convey that the Russian people’s interest in the war is evaporating.
Trust in Putin also fell, with VTsIOM reporting a drop from 76.7% to 71% since mid-June. Independent surveys by the Institute for Conflict Studies and Analysis of Russia revealed even deeper disillusionment, with only 39% of respondents in Krasnodar and 37% in Rostov naming Putin as the politician they trusted most, highlighting the growing alienation from the regime.
Analysts said the war’s fifth year has intensified economic hardship for ordinary Russians, citing increased Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and online retailers, gas shortages, and the crushing impact of Western sanctions. John Hardie, deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, noted a strong public desire to end the conflict, but said the regime’s repression makes major unrest or a coup unlikely for now.
Hardie and Stepanenko observed that Putin appears to be retreating from actions that could provoke further dissent, such as reversing his attempt to seize control of Telegram and deciding not to repeat the hated 2022 draft. They suggested the president may wait until after the September elections before announcing any new mobilization, cynically prioritizing his grip on power over the well-being of the Russian people. Kaupo Rosin, director general of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, described Putin’s hold on power as the most fragile it has ever been, as the regime’s imperial ambitions unravel.