国际英语新闻:67 pct of Russians likely to support Putin at presidential race: poll

MOSCOW, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 67 percent of Russians are expected to vote in favor of incumbent President Vladimir Putin at the upcoming presidential elections, a public opinion poll said Friday.

The poll conducted by Moscow-based Public Opinion Foundation on Jan. 20-21 among 3,000 people from 207 locations showed that Putin's closest rivals, Pavel Grudinin supported by the Russian Communist Party, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, could reap only 6 percent of the votes each.

The remaining candidates had enjoyed just 1 percent support or less, the poll showed.

Only 8 percent of those polled said they would ignore the elections while 27 percent said they had more trust in Putin compared to a month ago. Fifteen percent said they had less faith and 58 percent did not respond.

The Russian presidential election will take place on March 18.

A public opinion poll conducted by the government-owned research center VTSIOM said on Jan. 15 that about 67 percent of the respondents said they would vote and of them, 81.1 percent said they would support Putin.