Putin approval rating falls to lowest level since Ukraine invasion, poll shows

Vladimir Putin’s approval rating fell to 65.6 percent, the lowest level since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, signaling a modest but notable erosion in a political system built on the image of unbreakable support.

The latest VTsIOM figures showed Putin’s approval down for a seventh straight week, from 66.7 percent a week earlier and 73.3 percent in March. Trust in Putin also declined to 71.0 percent, down from more than 77 percent earlier this spring. At the same time, 24.1 percent of respondents said they did not trust him and 23.3 percent said they did not approve of his performance as president, both the highest levels since the war began.

The numbers do not point to a collapse, but they do suggest pressure is building inside a tightly managed system where public opinion is difficult to measure and easy to shape. VTsIOM’s daily Sputnik telephone surveys rely on 600 respondents across at least 80 regions of Russia, a small but closely watched sample in a country where censorship and political fear can limit what people say aloud.

Several possible strains are visible. Russia’s economy contracted in the first two months of 2026, prompting Putin to order top officials to look for ways to revive growth. The country has also seen growing frustration over mobile internet outages, restrictions on messaging apps and disruptions to VPN services. Putin said the outages were needed for security reasons, while also telling law-enforcement officials to use ingenuity to keep essential services working.

That combination of war pressure, economic discomfort and digital restriction may be enough to dent support without yet breaking it. Putin has ruled Russia for more than two decades, first as president and prime minister and now again as president. If he completes his current term, he would become Russia’s longest-serving ruler since Catherine the Great.

The decline also sharpens attention on the gap between official polling and the more volatile public mood beneath it. Independent analysis of VTsIOM data put Putin’s approval rating at 64.3 percent in the week of February 14 to 20, 2022, the last prewar survey before the invasion. Since then, the figure had not fallen below 70 percent until this spring, making the latest slide less dramatic than a political rupture, but still enough to show that even in Moscow’s most controlled environment, fatigue and friction are starting to register.