Republicans View Putin More Favorably Than Biden, See Him as a Strong Leader: POLL
Buried within a recent, lengthy poll from the Economist and YouGov were stark numbers regarding the popularity of President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin among Americans.
The Washington Post’s Phillip Bump dug through those numbers and noted on Wednesday that the overall favorability rating of Putin among Republicans was higher than that of Biden.
Bump, who writes the weekly “How To Read This Chart” column for the Post, came away with a surprising conclusion from the poll: “Republicans are far less likely to say they view Putin very unfavorably than they are to say the same of Biden or other leading Democrats.”
The poll, which was conducted between January 22nd and the 25th before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, found that 15 percent of Republicans had either a “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” view of Putin.
Interestingly, the poll found slightly more Democrats, 4 percent, in the “very favorable” category regarding Putin than Republicans, which was only 3 percent.
The poll, however, found 12 percent of Republicans in the “somewhat favorable” category, while only 4 percent of Democrats had a “somewhat favorable” view of Putin.
Biden’s dismal approval rating among Republicans is what helps Putin to be slightly more popular in the GOP.
Only 3 percent of Republicans polled had a “very favorable” view of Biden, while 7 percent had a “somewhat favorable” view of the president.
In fact, former President Barack Obama was the only Democrat to beat out Putin, by one percentage point, in terms of favorability among Republicans. Obama landed at a total of 16 percent of Republicans viewing him either “very” or “somewhat” favorably.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the Democratic Party generally all polled under Putin’s 15 percent favorability rating among Republicans.
Fifty-three percent of Republicans viewed Putin as a “very strong” leader, while 36 percent viewed him as “somewhat strong” – a total of 86 percent. Bump notes, however, “It’s the sort of strength that probably seems more appealing from afar.”
Meanwhile, 35 percent of Democrats viewed Putin as “very strong” and 37 percent viewed him as “somewhat strong.”
Independents were split 40 percent to 38 percent between “very strong” and “somewhat strong” – respectively.
On the flip side, only 10 percent of Republicans said they view Biden as a strong leader, with a 5 percent split between “somewhat” and “very” strong.
The poll was a survey of 1,500 American adults and has a roughly 3 percent margin of error.
