Putin’s electoral rating grows

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s electoral rating continues to rise and has reached 54.7 per cent, according the VTsIOM the state-run pollster. His rating was 53.3 per cent a week earlier, and 51.7 per cent a month ago. Two other presidential candidates – Sergey Mironov and Mikhail Prokhorov – have also seen their ratings rise in the polls. Prokhorov has 5.8 per cent this week, while Mironov - 5.0 per cent. The rating of the Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, has declined from 10.32 per cent to 9.2. Liberal-Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky has 8.0 per cent compared to 8.2 per cent a week earlier, Interfax said. The poll was conducted on February 11-12 in 46 Russian regions and involved 1,600 respondents. The presidential election is scheduled for March 4.