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Putin’s Approval in Russia Soars to Record, America’s Plunges to Near Zero
Wolf Richter www.wolfstreet.com www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter
Don’t let a good crisis go to waste – that appears to be the newest slogan of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as his approval rating in Russia soared from 54% a year ago to 83% now, matching the record of the data series in 2008, when he switched roles to become Prime Minister. The rating was, as Gallup put it, “likely propelled by a groundswell of national pride with the annexation of Crimea in March on the heels of the Sochi Olympic Games in February.”
By contrast, President Obama’s job approval rating in the US, according to Gallup’s daily tracker, languishes at a miserable 42%. Bad, but still head and shoulders above the most despised tax-and-retreat French President of the Fifth Republic, François Hollande, whose approval rating has finally stopped plunging once it got to about 20%.
But it’s not just Putin
Russian’s confidence in their military jumped to an all-time record of 78%, up from 65% a year ago, wowed perhaps by the military’s awe-inspiring performance in the Crimean debacle.
Confidence in the Russian government skyrocketed from 39% in 2013 to 64% now. And that at a time when the US Congress is mired down in a well-deserved or perhaps too generous job approval rating of 15% by the hapless American voters who just can’t seem to figure out how to throw the rascals out.
The crisis also has given the Russian government a boost overall: 73% of Russians believe their government is leading them in the right direction, a majority for the first time since 2008, when Putin left the presidency. Russians really do have confidence in him, and they miss him when he’s gone. Yet, their economic outlook, while up, remains crummy: only 35% see conditions getting better, but 19% see them deteriorating.
And even Russians’ confidence in the elections has soared, albeit from an abysmal 23% in 2013 to a somewhat less abysmal 39%. That’s more than double the terrible level of 2006 and 2007, during Putin’s first reign, when only 17% of the Russian were confident in the honesty of their elections. Well, OK, honest or not, but at least they got their Putin back.
Here is Putin’s all-around triumphant chart, where everything has soared since last year:
And what do Russians think about America?
Man! First the good news. For China, that is. The $400 billion holy-grail natural gas deal Russia inked with China, with money flowing one way and gas the other, and all the hope and hype that came along with it have endeared China to the Russians. Their approval rating of China jumped on cue, from 25% last year to 42% now. The fact that China had Russia in a vice when the final touches were put on the deal and was thus able to extract pricing that would be good only for China has been lost somewhat in the shuffle at home. But hey.
Instead of offering Russia some kind of holy-grail deal on energy, the EU and the US have engineered an ingenious sanction spiral that so far has done wonders. In return, Russians’ approval of the EU swooned from 21% to 6%, and of America from the already awful 16% to 4% (not a typo). The diametrically opposed movement of China and the US looks terrible:
But it might even be worse: Given the survey’s margin of error of ± 2.7 percentage points (at a 95% confidence level), the approval rating could actually be as low as 1.3%. That’s as close to zero as you can get in a survey!
So if our local heroes, Obama and Congress, with their phenomenally well-thought-out reactions to the fiasco in the Ukraine, are trying to win the hearts and minds of the Russian people so that they could apply some pressure on Putin (LOL), they have abysmally failed. And in regards to his standing in his country, Putin is once again grinning his wicket triumphant smile. So far for him – at least through the period when the survey was conducted – the crisis has been a flawless success.
Capital flight, particularly from the vast underground economy, is Russia’s most pressing economic problem. And Putin’s angle of attack has been, well, brutal in its own way. Read…. Sanction Spiral Hits London, Plays Into Putin’s Master Plan
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How many military based abroad does the USA have?
How many Russian?
Who is the world dominator?
Answering myself .( You meet a better class od people.)
US around 900
Russia 10, 9 of which in former USSR.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-worldwide-network-of-us-military-bases/... for more detail
The most powerful state ever is also the most paranoid. US faces no existential threat from abroad.
Well said Moccasin but when you use the word "island" some might envision grass skirts, awesome bbqs, music. Perhaps you would be more accurate to use the term "Fortress North America" to imply democidal martial law, industrial prison complex, mass surveillance etc. Just a suggestion ; ) Now keeping in mind that all things are relative (?), perhaps living in FNA is preferable to say, Bangladesh 25 years from now? At least on our current trajectory that seems to be the case...
Well said Moccasin but when you use the word "island" some might envision grass skirts, awesome bbqs, music. Perhaps you would be more accurate to use the term "Fortress North America" to imply democidal martial law, industrial prison complex, mass surveillance etc. Just a suggestion ; ) Now keeping in mind that all things are relative (?), perhaps living in FNA is preferable to say, Bangladesh 25 years from now? At least on our current trajectory that seems to be the case...
Well said Moccasin but when you use the word "island" some might envision grass skirts, awesome bbqs, music. Perhaps you would be more accurate to use the term "Fortress North America" to imply democidal martial law, industrial prison complex, mass surveillance etc. Just a suggestion ; ) Now keeping in mind that all things are relative (?), perhaps living in FNA is preferable to say, Bangladesh 25 years from now? At least on our current trajectory that seems to be the case...
Well said Moccasin but when you use the word "island" some might envision grass skirts, awesome bbqs, music. Perhaps you would be more accurate to use the term "Fortress North America" to imply democidal martial law, industrial prison complex, mass surveillance etc. Just a suggestion ; ) Now keeping in mind that all things are relative (?), perhaps living in FNA is preferable to say, Bangladesh 25 years from now? At least on our current trajectory that seems to be the case...
How can Harper be a full partner when Obama was heard calling him a Big Lump? With friends like that, and with all Obama has done......who needs enemys?
The word "Union" has meaning the Gov has apparently overlooked.
You should give a fvck what countries with nukes think of you. China, Iran, Russia, India, Pakistan. Better start giving a fvck. People who are not liked do not move up as quickly as those who are liked.
Did Zero Hedge get too much traffic after MH-17 or was it an attack by the police state computers? It was screwed up for 3 days.
A Malay Air 777 disappears a few months ago with 5 Chinese patent holders sharing with Freescale on the patent just about to be approved. A few months or more later a Malay Air 777 gets shot down by NWO? Hmmm...what are the chances? 1 in a billion?
As a World Bully, America, with all your Military......Hows that working out for you and mainstreet?
And where are you from? Cant name a place thats in overall better shape than here in the USA and thats sad. So that being said shut the .... Up litimine.just cause our president and politicians suck ass why do all these people come here illegally and your typing in English hmmmm
Cant name a place thats in overall better shape than here in the USA and thats sad. So that being said shut the .... Up litimine.just cause our president and politicians suck ass why do all these people come here illegally and your typing in English hmmmm
Lulz.
Since when do I give a FUCK what Russians opinion is on America?
All-time low? Yeah uh huh...thats why 10X more russians STILL move from russia to the US every year vs Americans moving there...
oh wait...does ANYONE ever move TO Russia? hahaha
nice try ZH...nice try.
Biased shit...
lol, Putin & gang are experts at getting people to think what they want. And now they're trying to manipulate the rest of the world as well -- their paid worker drones are right here on ZH, as everyone can see from the 56 down-votes you got in a few hours.
“If it looks like Kremlin shit, smells like Kremlin shit, and tastes like Kremlin shit too — then it’s Kremlin shit.”
------------------------
"The Kremlin is...launching a million-dollar army of trolls to mold American public opinion as it cracks down on internet freedom at home."
"The Guardian readers’ editor reports 40,000 comments a day by an “orchestrated pro-Kremlin campaign” of pro-Russia trolling on Ukraine stories."
"Russian government agencies have been accused of editing a Wikipedia article to suggest the Ukrainian military was responsible for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17"
Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s only independent investigative newspaper,infiltrated its “troll farm” of commenters on Russian blogs last September.
"waves of Nashibot trolls who've been relentlessly posting pro-Putin propaganda in the comments on Ukraine v Russia coverage."
"Russia’s campaign to shape international opinion around its invasion of Ukraine has extended to recruiting and training a new cadre of online trolls that have been deployed to spread the Kremlin’s message on the comments section of top American websites."
“What, you think crazy Russians all learned English en masse and went off to comment on articles?” said Leonid Bershidsky, a media executive and Bloomberg View columnist. “If it looks like Kremlin shit, smells like Kremlin shit, and tastes like Kremlin shit too — then it’s Kremlin shit.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-america
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/malaysia-airlines-mh17-crash-russian-government-agencies
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/04/pro-russia-trolls-ukraine-guardian-online
http://quantifyingmemory.blogspot.com/2013/06/putins-bot-army-part-two.html
Yeah, they're right up there with the US, UK, and Israel.
Cave emptor.
On ZH there is a massive onslaught of kremlin-friendly posts on every article about Ukraine.
Try criticizing Putin and you will quickly get 20-60 down-votes and a series of rebuttals. This does not happen on any other topic I've seen.
The rebuttals are typically in poor English, and contain views by in large not found anyway except Kremlin friendly sites and articles.
Everyone has their own point of view, but the Russian point of view currently seems to be being pushed on this site harder than any other, and it appears to be a coordinated effort.
They print what they are paid to print, obaminator.
That said, Zero Hedge at least has the balls and audacity to NOT censor comments. I have to keep reminding myself of this counter factual to my line that Zero Hedge is a Kremlin paid rag.
I abhor Zero Hedge. I adore Zero Hedge. Both are true.
"Zero Hedge at least has the balls and audacity to NOT censor comments"
tell this to the, now non-commentator, Bugsquasher, after crossing the line.
Link was to "no access" mumbo jumbo. What happened?
You still waving the flag and shopping at Walmart Obaminator?
With a story about Obama's low approval rating, and your avatar, I'd think you might have something else to say.
A US flag made in China no doubt......
"Since when do I give a FUCK what Russians opinion is on America?"
About as often as anyone gives a fuck about your opinion.
What is wrong for Zero Hedge commenting system!?
Boris, for the last three days my smartphone has been continuously sending and receiving data, to the point of wearing out my battery in 35% of its usual battery life. But, I am not knowingly engaged in any data sends/receipts.
While I am admittedly crazy, your comment, my phone behavior, and the last 3 days of ZH Web page issues tell me something is afoot. I feel my heart and mind being won over as we speak.
Maybe it's time to get a more secure, reliable open-source type of phone, perhaps that new Ubuntu touch phone situation. I don't use smartphones so I have the most secure situation of all. Prepaid burner phone with nothing fancy. No touch screen, no apps, none of that nonsense.
Please have faith...keep resisting.
Ooops, again...!
Ok, come on now Boris, stop hoarding the comment's column.
Geesh!
Ooops...!
Superfluity of course profanity aside, Putin is rockstar, Obama is, how do you say, coke-head pussy wimp. But that is just opinion of inflated egomaniacal ruler. USA is last refuge of true individual liberty, land of free, home of brave. Time to get serious my American cousin!
Boris the spider, Komrad, what are you doing on this English language web site?! Better STFU and go back to your beautiful country!
If Putin is such a rockstar why does he sneak around Ukraine like a cockroach? Why not just take the bitch in the street during broad daylight??
Weak, dude, weak.
What, you don't find Putin to be like a sneaky cockroach in the way he conducts military campaigns? We are talking about an ex-KGB guy, its not necessarily an insult. But I think really, its not a very manly way to conduct affairs.
Speaking of manly, has anyone else noticed Strelkov looks totally gay with his cute little moustache? Is he one of those guys he joined up so he could prove his manhood despite his huge and obvious homo tendencies? Hey, I'm not saying their is anything wrong with an alternative lifestyle, just noticing.
Do you have a counter-argument BigJim, or are you simply speechless? Or do you just get big when you see pictures of Putin and Strelkov? Do you fantasize about a 3some perhaps, lol?
For your enjoyment, John Stewart on Putin: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/8gpcf5/big-vladdy---semi-delusional-autocrats