| MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's main pro-government party is counting
on President Vladimir Putin's popularity to carry it to victory in next
week's parliamentary elections, analysts said Thursday, paring down its
election campaign to this: The president supports us; you should, too.
Putin remains the country's most popular politician. In a survey of
1,600 Russians, the independent VTsIOM-A polling agency said 78 percent
trust Putin and 81 percent feel positively toward him. The poll had a
margin of error of three percentage points.
"We should talk about the presidential factor -- it will play a
big role in the election" Dec. 7, said Gleb Pavlovsky, an analyst
with the Fund for Effective Politics.
Analysts said support for Putin should translate into votes for United
Russia, which has flooded radio with commercials emphasizing its links
with the president and displaying his image on campaign material.
"I'm not going to conceal anything: Four years ago, I voted for
your party," Putin told a United Russia conference this fall, according
to the party's Web Site. "I believe I was correct."
All recent polls put United Russia firmly ahead, with the Communists
in second. The ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic
Party, which follows the Kremlin line, is third, followed by the two liberal
parties.
United Russia was formed in the 2001 merger of two leading centrist
parties and is the keystone of the pro-government majority in the Duma.
The Communists won the most seats of any party in the 1999 parliamentary
elections, but lost the majority in the 450-seat house that they had held
since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pollsters said support for the Communists continues to weaken, especially
with the aggressive campaign being waged by United Russia, using its government
connections and deep pockets.
According to another polling agency, the Public Opinion Foundation,
support for the Communists dropped from 16 percent to 14 percent this
month. United Russia, meanwhile, gained six points among potential voters,
according to the poll, which did not provide the margin of error.
Grigory Yavlinsky, who
heads the liberal Yabloko party, warned in St. Petersburg that the government
is trying to create "a tamed Duma with an obedient majority."
That doesn't seem to bother voters, who continue to put their faith
in Putin even as they give a mixed assessment to pollsters about the president's
efforts to bring order to the country and improve living standards.
"Our political parties operate in a vacuum," said Vladimir
Petukhov of the Institute for Complex Social Investigations. "They
are not engaging voters."
Putin is. The VTsIOM-A poll said 4 percent of those surveyed are enthralled
by him, 38 percent like him and 39 percent can't say anything bad about
him.
See also:
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Elections to the State Duma,
2003
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