A majority of Americans (68%) have an unfavorable opinion of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Just 16% see Putin favorably, with more Republicans than Democrats holding that view.
A quarter of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (25%) said they had a favorable view of Putin overall, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January before the Russian leader’s re-election. Just 9% of Democrats and Democratic leaners had a favorable view of Putin. About three-quarters of Democrats (76%), on the other hand, held an unfavorable view of the Russian president, compared with a smaller majority of Republicans (62%).
Republicans’ views of Putin became somewhat more positive between 2015 and 2017, but have changed little since last year. The share of Republicans viewing him favorably more than doubled between 2015 and 2017, from 11% to 27%. Conversely, more Democrats viewed Putin unfavorably in 2017 (79%) than did so in 2015 (69%), but there has been little change since last year.
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