Moscow residents are more likely to approve of President Vladimir Putin and their mayor than of their city's municipal authorities, according to an independent poll published Friday.
The Levada Center polling agency said both Putin and Mayor Sergei Sobyanin shared a 41% approval rating among Muscovites.
That compares to 13% approval for the Moscow City Duma and 16% for municipal deputies, which include high-profile opposition figures that have taken part in recent anti-government protests among their ranks.
Muscovites were also more likely to approve of Putin’s and Sobyanin’s work than disapprove of it, with their disapproval ratings standing at 22% for the president and 25% for the mayor.
Disapproval for the Moscow City Duma stood at 30%, or double its approval rating. Meanwhile, 20% of Muscovites disapproved of the municipal deputies’ work, according to Levada.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who holds a 30% approval rating, had the highest share of indifferent respondents (34%) as well as the lowest disapproval rating (12%).
The Levada survey also showed little change in the authorities’ approval ratings since December despite this winter’s mass rallies in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
A previous Levada poll published Thursday showed declining support for Navalny, who is serving two and a half years in a notoriously harsh prison on charges of violating parole while recovering from poisoning abroad.
The pollster conducted its computer-assisted personal interview with 500 Muscovites between April 15-26.
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