Russians approval of Putin, Russian government soars. -Gallup

Putin's Job approval rate.

83% of Russians approve of Vladimir Putin's job performance in a new poll by Gallup. Confidence in Russian institutions like government, the military and the legitimacy of elections. 65% of Russians are also satisfied in their individual level of freedom and a larger number of Russians believe that their economy is getting better, despite U.S. sanctions. The opinions on Obama and the leadership of the EU is in single digit territory. 

My Comment:

This poll took place before the downing of Flight 17, but if anything, that should boost these numbers even higher. Russians, correctly, believe that they are under siege from the west and recent events should encourage that viewpoint. Official foreign policy in the west is to discredit the Russian government and subvert Russian culture. You can debate whether that is justified or not but not if it is true.  

Of course this feeds right into Russian psychology. They have a long history of invasions, persecution and being the victims of genocide. Last century alone they faced World War I, western interference in the Russian Civil war, suffered the most casualties in World War II, and a decades long cold war against the United States and Europe. To say they fear the west is an understatement and to be perfectly honest it's probably justified. In light of all of this, its not a surprise that they would support Putin, since he is perceived to be a strong, powerful leader that stands up to the West. And you can also rightly state that until the Flight 17 disaster he was proactive in the world stage instead of reactive. I'm not saying he is right, but at the very least the approval is at least understandable. 

I'm not surprised that Russians don't approve of Obama and the EU's leadership. People tend to not like leaders of governments that are opposed to them. And considering that Obama and Congress have very low ratings inside the United States as well it's not at all surprising. I think the whole world is disappointed in Obama right now, and Russia is no exception. Say what you want about Putin, and there is a lot of perfectly justified very harsh criticism for him, but at least he leads his country.