Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest point since the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with 73 percent of respondents telling the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) that Putin is performing “rather well” as president.
As the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo noted, that figure is the lowest recorded since February 25–27, 2022, when the rating stood at 71 percent.
A week earlier, FOM had put the “rather well” figure at 76 percent, with 74 percent of respondents saying they trusted Putin. Both numbers have since slipped: the trust figure fell by one percentage point, to 73 percent.
The share of respondents rating Putin’s performance as “rather poorly” rose two percentage points over the past week, reaching 13 percent. Another 17 percent said they do not trust the president — up three percentage points over the same period.
The day before, the Levada Center published its own findings, showing Putin’s presidential approval rating at 79 percent in April 2026 — a figure the center said has been slowly declining over the past six months.
The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) (VTsIOM) recorded a decline in Vladimir Putin’s ratings for seven consecutive weeks. A survey the center published on April 24 showed that 24.1 percent of Russians do not trust Putin and 23.3 percent do not approve of his performance. VTsIOM did not release new ratings — May 1 is a public holiday in Russia.
Meanwhile, Meduza has learned that the Kremlin previously advised media outlets loyal to Russian authorities to cite FOM ratings specifically, or to avoid reporting on the figures altogether.
A political consultant who works with the Kremlin told Meduza that Putin’s ratings collapsed against the backdrop of Telegram being blocked and mobile internet being restricted, along with rising prices and Russians’ war fatigue. As his ratings fell, Putin urged deputies and senators not to focus exclusively on restrictive legislation.
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