Four out of five Russians (79.8%) trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the latest poll by state-owned Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), Tass reported on January 19.

The poll recorded a 1 percentage point increase in the level of trust Russian citizens have in Putin, according to the survey, conducted from January 9 to 14 among 1,600 adult Russians.

Additionally, approval of the president's job performance saw a slight increase of 0.2 percentage points, reaching 77%, according to VTsIOM.

Similar polls conducted by the independent Levada Centre recorded similar results with Putin’s approval rate most recently at 85% in November, up nearly 20pp from the pre-war period.

In terms of the Russian government's job performance, 54% of respondents expressed approval, reflecting a 0.7 percentage point drop.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also received a job performance rating of 54%, down by 0.7 percentage points. Despite this, Mishustin's trust rating rose by 0.8 percentage points, reaching 62.7%.

The survey reported on public attitudes toward the heads of party factions in the State Duma ahead of the presidential elections slated for March 31 this year.

Gennady Zyuganov, the long-time leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), saw a 0.4 percentage point drop in trust, with 30.3% expressing trust.

Sergey Mironov, leader of the A Just Russia-For Truth party, experienced a more significant drop of 3.1 percentage points, with 27.8% expressing trust.

Leonid Slutsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), witnessed a marginal 0.1 percentage point drop, with 17.2% expressing trust.

Alexey Nechayev, chairman of the New People party, saw a 1.3 percentage point rise, with 8.2% expressing trust.