According to VCIOM, the 2012 presidential elections will have one round.  The winner will be Vladimir Putin with 58,6% of the vote, followed by G.Zyuganov with only 14,8%. The outsider will be S.Mironov with 7, 7%. 

MOSCOW, February 20, 2012. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the presidential election forecast.

Progress in pre-election campaign and preliminary results.

Fifty-five percent of Russians follow the presidential election campaign: 9% - attentively, 46% - from time to time. V.Putin is the leader of the pre-election campaign: his pre-election campaign ads were assessed positively by 30% of Russians (other candidates - 12-19%), posters – 10% (other candidates – not more than 7%), printed materials - 9% (other candidates – not more than 5%).   There is no leader in presidential election debates: Russians equally favor M.Prokhorov, G.Zyuganov (13% for each), V.Zhirinovsky (12%), and S.Mironov (11%). At the same time, most of Russians clearly state that V.Zhirinovsky is the candidate perceived most negatively (25%).

Mood and preferences

V.Putin`s electoral rating is steadily increasing: by mid-February it has reached 55%. M.Prokhorov has also strengthened his position (from 4 to 6%). The ratings of three other candidates are stable enough.

The leader in the anti-rating is V.Zhirinovsky: 51% of Russians report they will not vote for this candidate. He is followed by G.Zyuganov on the second place (30%), and M.Prokhorov on the third place (27%), then S.Mironov (18%) and V.Putin (only 14% say they will not vote for him).

Only 18% of the voters think that the March 4^th elections should not be trusted. The remainder reports, with varying degrees of confidence, that the results of elections can be trusted.

Elections forecast 

According to VCIOM, the final distribution of votes will be as follows: V.Putin will win with 58,6% of the vote, G.Zyuganov - 14,8%, V.Zhirinovsky - 9,4%, M.Prokhorov - 8,7%, S.Mironov - 7,7%; other 0,8% of ballots will be recognized invalid.

Moscow and St.Petersburg

V.Putin`s support rating makes up 43% in Moscow and 46% in St.Petersburg, followed by M.Prokhorov on the second place in both capitals (14% in Moscow, 11% in St.Petersburg). This is followed by G.Zyuganov (9 and 8%, respectively), V.Zhirinovsky (7% and 5%, respectively) and S.Mironov (4% and 6%, respectively).

According to VCIOM`s forecast, V.Putin will have 43,7% in Moscow and 46,7% in Saint-Petersburg, followed by M.Prokhorov (17,2 and 16, respectively), and G.Zyuganov (14,5 and 12,7, respectively). S.Mironov will gain a higher position in Saint-Petersburg (13,4% versus 9,9% in Moscow), and V.Zhirinovsky - 9,9% in Moscow and 8,4% in the northern capital.

The VCIOM`s forecast was made in February 2012. The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted February 11-12, 2012. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!