In nearly twenty years of running Russia, Vladimir Putin has had his highs and his lows. Some of his greatest hits, from a popularity perspective, include his handling of several terrorism crises early in his tenure, his thrashing of Georgia in a brief 2008 war (when he was only pretending not to be the guy in charge of Russia) and, of course, the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, which sent his approval ratings from fresh lows back up to stratospheric highs. But since then, he has come down to earth again — if a mid-60s approval rating can be called "earth" these days. A sluggish economy has played a part, but nothing dented his appeal more than a deeply unpopular pension reform plan unveiled last summer. Here's a look at Putin's ups and downs over the years.
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Graphic Truth: Putin's Highs and (Recent) Lows
By Alex Kliment,
Alex Kliment
Alex wears a few different caps and tips them all regularly. He writes for the GZERO Daily, works as a field correspondent for GZERO's nationally syndicated TV show GZERO WORLD WITH IAN BREMMER, and writes/directs/voices GZERO's award-winning puppet satire show PUPPET REGIME. Prior to joining GZERO, Alex worked as an analyst covering Russia and broader Emerging Markets for Eurasia Group. He has also written for the Financial Times from Washington, DC, and Sao Paulo Brazil. In his spare time, he makes short films and composes scores for long ones. He studied history and Slavic literature at Columbia and has a Master's from Johns Hopkins SAIS. He's a native New Yorker, a long-suffering Mets fan, and owns too many bicycles.
