The legitimacy of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is more and more challenged. Russia would like the 2012 elections to vote for a candidate other than what is seen now: Putin or Medvedev.
In a report by the Center for Strategic Studies in Moscow, entitled “The political crisis in Russia and potential growth mechanisms”, it is assessed that the popularity of the two Russian leaders had a “catastrophic” drop in the past year. Medvedev, Putin and the United Russia Party dropped in the polls in March 2010 by 12, 21 and respectively 18 percentage points as the experts who worked on the study pointed out, based on data from three major public opinion research institutes in the country.
The power, totally focused on itself, is committing a “serious mistake” by ignoring the views of the middle class. The population is increasingly distrustful towards the key symbols of power: President Medvedev, Putin and the ruling party, United Russia.
“The main change in the political consciousness of the Russians in the last eight months is not only a collapse of confidence in Putin-Medvedev tandem and his entourage, but also a growing expectation of the emergence of a third man,” experts say. Putin and Medvedev have left the doubt to hover on their intention on the 2012 presidential election, while no other serious candidate has emerged yet.