MOSCOW: Support for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the presidency has grown by six percentage points to 48 percent in the past few weeks, state-run pollster VTsIOM said Friday.
"Putin retains his solid lead in the presidential election rating, with his support on the rise (from 42 percent to 48 percent in the past few weeks)," VTsIOM said in a statement.
Support for other candidates has been stable -- 10 percent for Gennady Zyuganov, nine percent for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, five percent for Sergei Mironov. At the bottom of the list are Mikhail Prokhorov with three percent and Grigory Yavlinsky with two percent.
The approval ratings of Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev have grown to 58 and 57 percent in the first week of 2012, respectively. The figure for both leaders was 51 percent in December.
The survey was held Jan 7-8 among 1,600 respondents in 46 regions.
Presidential election in Russia is scheduled for March 4.