Is Putin as popular in Russia as Trump says?

But what percentage of Russians really supports Putin? The answers vary, depending on the pollster and questions asked.

Last week, the Public Opinion Foundation, a sociological organization mostly working on orders from the Kremlin, published a poll asking Russians who they would vote for, if the presidential elections took place next Sunday.

The results were overwhelming: 93 percent of responders gave their votes to Putin. “I do not think these wild figures represent the true picture at the time when Putin’s party’s popularity is melting, but we can say that the majority of Russians, more than 50 percent, support him, for sure,” Olga Bychkova, editor and presenter at the independent radio network Echo of Moscow, told The Daily Beast on Friday. “The approval rating we see is not for Putin, it is for the tsar, and if tomorrow they replace him with a different leader, who will soon have the same approval rating, the majority will vote for the tsar appointed to sit on the throne,” Bychkova added.