Six in 10 Russians say economic conditions in their city or region are deteriorating, according to results of a Gallup poll conducted between March and May 2026 — the highest share recorded in the survey’s 20-year history. Previous peaks came in 2020 (45%) and 2021 (50%), during the coronavirus pandemic.
The 2026 survey also found that 27% of respondents said conditions in their city or region had improved.
Fifty-six percent of Russians said their standard of living was getting worse, also a 20-year high; 29% said it had improved.
Russians’ views of the labor market darkened sharply as well. Fifty-eight percent said it was a bad time to find a job, while 35% said it was a good time. A year earlier, those figures stood at 46% and 49%, respectively.
Gallup also recorded year-over-year drops — each a record — in Russians’ trust in the armed forces, the government, and elections. Trust in the military fell from 79% to 66%; trust in the government dropped from 67% to 53%; and trust in the integrity of elections fell from 56% to 40%. Positive assessments of press freedom in the country plummeted from 59% to 34% over the same period.
Russian polling organizations Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) and Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) began recording a decline in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings in the spring of 2026. In late June, FOM published a survey showing that Russians’ trust in Putin had fallen to 69 percent — the lowest level recorded since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine.
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