Opinion Poll Data

The percentages not in parentheses are computed from the overall number of respondents. The data in parentheses are percentages computed for those respondents, who stated that they would participate in the elections.
Here are the results of the most recent polls:
RATINGS OF SUPPORT for the top presidential contenders are as follows.

VCIOM Poll Ratings

In each poll published by VCIOM (All-Russia Institute of Public Opinion Research), approximately 1600 people were questioned at 60 locations nationwide. Error margin: 3.8% (Jun. 12).

Place Name Jan. 28 Feb. 25 Mar. 17 Mar. 31 Apr. 10 Apr. 24 May 5 May 19 Jun. 3 Jun. 12
1 Boris
Yeltsin
(8%) (11%) (15%) (18%) (18%) (21%) (28%) (33%) (37%) (36%)
2 Gennady
Zyuganov
(20%) (24%) (25%) (25%) (26%) (27%) (27%) (26%) (26%) (24%)
3 Alexander
Lebed
(10%) (8%) (8%) (10%) (10%) (8%) (6%) (7%) (7%) (10%)
4 Grigory
Yavlinsky
(13%) (9%) (11%) (9%) (10%) (11%) (9%) (9%) (7%) (8%)
5 Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
(10%) (12%) (9%) (9%) (8%) (9%) (7%) (7%) (6%) (6%)
6 Svyatoslav
Fedorov
(8%) (7%) (7%) (7%) (8%) (4%) (7%) (4%) (3%) (3%)
7 Mikhail
Gorbachev
(1%) (0.6%) (1%) (1%) (1%) (2%) (1%) (0.5%) (1%) (0.5%)
8 Vladimir
Bryntsalov
- - - - - - - (0.4%) - (0.4%)
9 Yuri
Vlasov
- - - - - - - (0.4%) - (0.3%)
10 Martin
Shakkum
- - - - - - - (0.5%) - (0.1%)
out Viktor
Chernomyrdin
(7%) (5%) (4%) (3%) (4%) - - - - -
out Yegor
Gaidar
(3%) (4%) (3%) (3%) (3%) - - - - -
out Aman
Tuleyev
- - - - - - (2%) (1%) - (1%)
- someone else - - - - - - (3%) - - -
- against all (2%) (3%) (4%) - (2%) - (1%) (4%) - (2%)
- undecided (15%) (13%) (10%) (12%) (9%) (12%) (11%) (8%) - (9%)
- Will vote - 63% 65% - 68% 70% 73% - - 80%
- Won't vote - - 20% - 20% - - - - -

Institute of the Sociology of Parliamentarism polls

6000 people intending to vote were polled in each.

Place Name Apr. 10 -
Apr. 15
Apr. 27 -
May 2
May 17 May 24 -
May 28
June 7 June 13
1 Gennady
Zyuganov
(38-47%) (43-45%) (42%) (36%) (31%) (35.6%)
2 Boris
Yeltsin
(16-20%) (25%) (27%) (36%) (40%) (32.7%)
3 Alexander
Lebed
(8-10%) (8%) (8%) (7-8%) (9%) (11.0%)
4 Grigory
Yavlinsky
(8-9%) (8%) (10%) (10%) (11%) (9.8%)
5 Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
(6-7%) (7%) (7%) (5-7%) (5%) (7.5%)
6 Svyatoslav
Fedorov
(2-4%) (3%) (3%) (4%) (2%) -
7 Mikhail
Gorbachev
(1-2%) (1-2%) - - - -

Russian Independent Institute of Social and National Problems mid-month polls

conducted in 15 of Russia's 89 regions.

Place Name Feb. Mar. Apr. May
1 Boris
Yeltsin
10.0% 17.0% 23.8% 35.2%
2 Gennady
Zyuganov
16.4% 25.8% 28.0% 22.4%
3 Grigory
Yavlinsky
12.9% 13.2% 12.7% 13.3%
4 Alexander
Lebed
10.4% 7.8% 10.3% 7.4%
5 Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
8.8% 8.1% 8.5% 6.1%
6 Svyatoslav
Fedorov
1.1% 7.6% 6.7% 5.6%
7 Mikhail
Gorbachev
1.2% 1.2% 1.1% 1.0%
8 Martin
Shakkum
- - - 0.9%
9 Yuri
Vlasov
- - - 0.6%
10 Vladimir
Bryntsalov
- - - 0.2%
out Aman
Tuleyev
- - - 3.1%

Public Opinion Foundation Ratings

The margin of error is plus or minus 5 per cent, 1,460 people were polled nationwide.

Place Name Mar. 2 Mar. 30 Apr. 7 Apr. 13 Apr. 20 Apr. 28 May 5 May 12 May 18 Jun. 9
1 Boris
Yeltsin
14% 19% 21% 23% 22% 26.5% 25.0% 27.8% 34.2% 34%
2 Gennady
Zyuganov
20% 21% 25% 22% 22% 25.2% 24.5% 23.6% 21.8% 30%
3 Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
8% 7% 6% 7% 6% - 7.5% 5.8% 7.0% 8%
4 Alexander
Lebed
7% 8% 5% 6% 7% - 5.8% 4.6% - 7%
5 Grigory
Yavlinsky
11% 8% 9% 8% 6% - 9.7% 8.4% 7.0% 6%
6 Svyatoslav
Fedorov
6% 5% 3% 5% 5% - 3.5% 3.1% - 2%
7 Mikhail
Gorbachev
- - - - - - 0.5% 0.9% - -
- someone else 11% 10% 9% 5% 3% - - - - -
- against all 2% 2% 1% 1% 3% - - - - -
- won't vote 7% 6% 4% 5% 6% - - - - -
- undecided 14% 14% 17% 18% 20% - - - - -

CESSI Polls

Conducted for CNN and Moscow Times. 1,170 people were polled nationwide.

Place Name Mar. 20 Apr. 23 May 14 Jun. 1 Jun. 8
1 Boris
Yeltsin
14.0% 20.7% 27.7% 32.6% 34.5%
2 Gennady
Zyuganov
19.1% 19.8% 19.3% 19.7% 15.9%
3 Alexander
Lebed
3.2% 4.7% 5.5% 5.6% 7.1%
4 Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
4.9% 4.8% 4.3% 5.7% 6.7%
5 Grigory
Yavlinsky
6.2% 6.5% 9.2% 5.9% 6.5%
6 Svyatoslav
Fedorov
2.0% 3.2% 3.2% - 2.7%
7 Mikhail
Gorbachev
- 1% - - -
- Uncertain 28.2% 22.5% 19.9% 18.0% -
- Against all - 3% - - -
- Won't vote - 8% - - -

ROMIR Polls

1580 respondents, 160 polling locations around the country.

Place Name Feb. 18 Mar. 17 Mar. 31 Apr. 14 Apr. 28 May 5 May 12 May 19 May 26 Jun. 3 Jun. 12
1 Boris
Yeltsin
8% (17%) (19%) (22%) (28%) (29%) (32%) (31%) (35%) (35%) (34%)
2 Gennady
Zyuganov
18% (26%) (27%) (27%) (28%) (25%) (25%) (27%) (24%) (23%) (23%)
3 Alexander
Lebed
9% - - (8%) (7%) (6%) (5%) (4%) (6%) (7%) (8%)
4 Grigory
Yavlinsky
11% (9%) - (7%) (7%) (8%) (9%) (7%) (6%) (7%) (7%)
5 Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
9% (7%) - (6%) (5%) (6%) (5%) (5%) (5%) (4%) (5%)
6 Svyatoslav
Fedorov
- - - (6%) (6%) (4%) (3%) (5%) (3%) (2%) (2%)
7 Mikhail
Gorbachev
- - - - (2%) (1%) (1%) (1%) (1%) (0%) (1%)
8 Martin
Shakkum
- - - - - - - (0%) (0%) (0%) (1%)
9 Yuri
Vlasov
- - - - - - - (0%) (0%) (0%) (1%)
10 Vladimir
Bryntsalov
- - - - - - - (0%) (0%) (0%) (0%)
out Viktor
Chernomyrdin
7% - - - - - - - - - -
out Aman
Tuleyev
- - - - - (1%) (1%) (1%) (1%) (1%) (1%)
- undecided - - - - (15%) - - (17%) (19%) (17%) (18%)

VCIOM NEGATIVE RATINGS: "Whom of the following politicians you would not like ever to see as president of Russia?" All the answers below were given by those who have already decided to vote.

Name Jan. '96 Feb. '96 Mar. '96 Apr. '96 May '96
Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
(49%) (49%) (59%) (56%) (57%)
Boris
Yeltsin
(43%) (40%) (39%) (37%) (36%)
Gennady
Zyuganov
(14%) (21%) (26%) (27%) (29%)
Alexander
Lebed
(9%) (8%) (12%) (9%) (8%)
Grigory
Yavlinsky
(6%) (4%) (6%) (6%) (6%)
Svyatoslav
Fedorov
(4%) (2%) (5%) (4%) (4%)
Hard to say (8%) (8%) (11%) - -

The following polls were conducted to determine the RUNOFF prospectives of the candidates.

VCIOM polls:

Name Jan. ? Jan. 28 Feb. 13 Feb. ? Feb. 25 Mar. 17 Mar. 31 Apr. 10 May 6 May 12 May 19 May 26 Jun. 12
Gennady
Zyuganov
41% 33% 33% 34% 39% 36% 32% 29% 29% 31% (37%) (37%) (36%) (36%)
Boris
Yeltsin
21% 18% 19% 21% 27% 33% 24% 28% 31% 37% (45%) (50%) (52%) (53%)
against both 21% 22% 20% 22% 22% 18% 21% 18% 17% 15% (17%) (13%) (12%) (11%)
won't vote 7% 15% 15% 15% 4% 3% 12% 15% 9% 9% - - -
undecided 10% 12% 13% 8% 8% 10% 11% 10% 14% 8% - - -

Name Jan. ? Jan. 28 Feb. 13 Feb. ? Feb. 25 Mar. 17 Mar. 31 Apr. 10 May 12
Gennady Zyuganov 34% 27% 28% 30% 37% 34% 29% 27% (40%)
Grigory Yavlinsky 36% 33% 34% 29% 33% 32% 31% 31% (41%)
against both 15% 17% 15% 18% 19% 17% 16% 14% (19%)
won't vote 4% 11% 11% 12% 4% 6% 10% 15% -
undecided 11% 12% 12% 11% 7% 11% 14% 13% -

Name Jan. ? Jan. 28 Feb. 13 Mar. 17 Mar. 31 Apr. 10
Gennady Zyuganov 42% 35% 35% 40% 35% 33%
Vladimir Zhirinovsky 15% 15% 14% 13% 13% 12%
against both 27% 26% 26% 32% 32% 30%
won't vote 6% 14% 14% 7% 12% 18%
undecided 10% 10% 11% 8% 8% 7%

Name Jan. 28 Feb. ? Mar. 31 Apr. 10
Gennady Zyuganov 28% 31% 30% 26%
Alexander Lebed 28% 23% 23% 28%
against both 20% 24% 24% 18%
won't vote 12% 12% 12% 16%
undecided 12% 10% 11% 12%

Russian Independent Institute of Social and National Problems polls:

Name Feb. Apr.
Gennady Zyuganov 32.3% 36.5%
Boris Yeltsin 25.2% 31.7%
against both 36.3% 20.8%

Name Feb. Apr.
Gennady Zyuganov 29.2% 36.0%
Grigory Yavlinsky 34.2% 31.0%
against both 31.4% 20.3%

Name Feb. Apr.
Gennady Zyuganov 33.6% 37.2%
Vladimir Zhirinovsky 11.2% 11.2%
against both 47.1% 41.2%

Name Feb. Apr.
Gennady Zyuganov 29.3% 35.4%
Alexander Lebed 24.9% 24.8%
against both 38.7% 27.1%

Name Feb. Apr.
Grigory Yavlinsky 35.2% 28.0%
Boris Yeltsin 20.1% 26.8%
against both 37.1% 30.1%

ROMIR polls:

Name Mar. 17 Apr. 14 Apr. 20 Apr. 28 May 5 May 12 May 19 May 26 Jun. 3 Jun. 12
Gennady Zyuganov 40% 40% 40% 40% 33% 32% 32% 30% 31% 30%
Boris Yeltsin 31% 34% 36% 36% 41% 42% 43% 46% 49% 46%

Name Mar. 17 Apr. 14 Jun. 10
Gennady Zyuganov 38% 39% 31%
Grigory Yavlinsky 29% 28% 34%

Name Mar. 17
Gennady Zyuganov 44%
Vladimir Zhirinovsky 13%

Name Jun. 10
Gennady Zyuganov 29%
Alexander Lebed 35%

VCIOM poll: Who do you think will become the Russian president?

Place Name Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May
1 Boris
Yeltsin
14% 21% 35% 40% 52%
2 Gennady
Zyuganov
18% 22% 28% 23% 21%
3 Vladimir
Zhirinovsky
8% 8% 6% 4% 2%
4 Grigory
Yavlinsky
5% 2% 2% 2% 1%
5 Alexander
Lebed
4% 2% 2% 1% 1%
6 Svyatoslav
Fedorov
2% 2% 1% 1% 1%

HOW ACCURATE are Russian public opinion polls? The following table features some results of recent parliamentary elections in comparison with predictions made by VCIOM and Nezavisimaya gazeta. All percentages except for those for absentees are computed based upon the predicted/actual turnout.

Place Party VCIOM,
Dec. 1, 1995
NG,
Dec. 1995
Actual vote,
Dec. 17, 1995
1 Communist Party of the Russian Federation (23.0%) (22.9%) (22.30%)
2 Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (11.5%) (5.7%) (11.18%)
3 Our Home is Russia (13.1%) (10.9%) (10.13%)
4 Yabloko (13.1%) (9.5%) (6.89%)
7 Congress of Russian Communities (13.1%) (6.5%) (4.31%)
- Absentees 39% - 35.6%

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