#19 - JRL 7027
Putin's rating remains high - Public Opinion Foundation

MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The election rating of President Vladimir Putin remains high.

Some 53% of Russians are ready to support him if the president election were held next Sunday, the Public Opinion Foundation reports, with reference to a poll of 1,500 respondents done on January 11-12.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov would gain 13%.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky can count on 4%, Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev on 3%, and Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu and Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky can count on 2% each.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Yevgeny Primakov, and Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov would get 1% each.

Fifty percent of Russians said they would never vote for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and 31% would never vote for Gennady Zyuganov. The index is 25% for Grigory Yavlinsky, 21% for Yuri Luzhkov, 19% for Yevgeny Primakov, 12% for Mikhail Kasyanov, 10% for Aman Tuleyev, and 9% for Sergei Shoigu.

The preferences of Muscovites differ somewhat from those of other Russians. 47% of Muscovites are ready to support Putin in the president election.

Gennady Zyuganov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Yuri Luzhkov would each gain 8% of the Muscovite vote.

50% of Russians defined Putin's presidential activities as "excellent," 36% as "satisfactory," and 9% as "bad."