European Security — 2026-05-31

Putin Approval Rating Falls to 67.5 Percent as War Fatigue and Internet Restrictions Weigh

BLUFVTsIOM's resumed slide despite a mid-May methodology change engineered to arrest it signals structural erosion that survey adjustments alone cannot reverse.

VTsIOM's May 29 survey recorded Putin's approval at 67.5%, down 1.9 percentage points week-over-week, with his trust rating falling one point to 73.7% and disapproval rising to 20.9% Meduza" data-url="https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/05/29/putin-s-approval-rating-keeps-falling-vtsiom-changed-its-polling-methodology-but-it-didn-t-help" data-mbfc="high" data-otype="digital_news">12. The drop came despite a May 15 methodological change that added door-to-door household interviews to telephone polling and had initially lifted the rating to 66.8% 13. FOM, Russia's other leading pollster, reported divergent figures the same day: trust in Putin rising from 71% to 73% 1. A political strategist working with Russia's presidential administration told Meduza that Telegram's blocking, mobile internet restrictions, rising prices, and war fatigue are driving the decline 1.

Analysis
The resumed decline, despite a mid-May methodology change engineered to arrest the slide, points to structural erosion that survey adjustments cannot mask. At 12.2 points below December's baseline, this is the deepest wartime approval trough a state-controlled pollster has recorded. Kremlin-linked strategists, per Meduza, attribute the cause to policy choices the leadership shows no sign of reversing: Telegram's blocking, internet restrictions, and compounding war fatigue. The same-day FOM divergence, trust rising to 73% as VTsIOM reported a fall, points toward selective political pressure fragmenting the state polling apparatus. Variance in VTsIOM's new combined-sample design may instead explain the weekly drop, with FOM offering the more stable read.

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