Russian President Vladimir Putin's popularity in the United States has reached its highest point since 2020, years before his troops invaded Ukraine, according to new data.
The Kremlin leader's popularity among Americans, as of the first quarter of 2023, stands at 21 percent, according to pollster YouGov. In the first quarter of 2021, Putin's popularity hovered at 15 percent, and shortly after Russia began the war with Ukraine, it was registered at 17 percent.
Moscow's troops crossing into Ukraine in February 2022 was met with condemnation from Western countries, including the U.S. At the time, President Joe Biden said the Kremlin had "chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering."
However, another poll from Gallup, published on March 13, 2023, showed that Americans' "already-negative opinions of Russia have soured further in the past year," now at 9 percent compared to 15 percent.
Nearly three in five people had a "very unfavorable" view of Russia, according to the Gallup World Affairs poll. In the 2022 poll, 42 percent held this view, with 36 percent of respondents reporting this perspective in 2021. In contrast, 68 percent of those polled had a favorable opinion of Ukraine in 2023.
The statistics from the World Affairs poll were "easily the worst ratings of Russia" in nearly three and a half decades, Gallup wrote.
A majority of Americans—51 percent of respondents—saw Moscow's military power as a critical threat, according to the poll.
A separate YouGov poll of 1,000 Americans, conducted between December 22, 2022, and January 2, 2023, showed that 55 percent of those asked had a "very unfavorable" view of Putin, with just 6 percent holding a "very favorable" judgment of the Russian leader. In this poll, a majority viewed Putin as a "somewhat strong" or "very strong" leader.
In 2014, the same year that Moscow illegally annexed Crimea, 69 percent of U.S. respondents had an "unfavorable" view of Putin, according to Statista.
Russian state media has repeatedly issued threats towards the U.S. and NATO allies, including during broadcasts with Russian state television host Vladimir Solovyov, who has been nicknamed "Putin's voice." In March, one clip showed state media guests discussing using a new nuclear-capable torpedo against Western countries backing Ukraine.
In a January broadcast, another state media guest called for a nuclear attack on the U.S., saying that Americans "won't come to their senses" until they "get hit with a nuke on their skull."
Within Russia, over 80 percent of Russians approved of Putin's activities as of March 2023, according to data published on March 30. This is higher than in September 2022, when the Kremlin announced a partial mobilization of Russian troops destined for Ukraine, Statista noted.
Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin via email for comment.
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Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
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