Alex Berezow writes: Comedian Norm Macdonald was fond of pointing out that Germans love David Hasselhoff. Germany’s infatuation with “The Hoff” pales in comparison to Russia’s admiration of Vladmimir Putin that archaeology-loving, race-car-driving, tiger-tranquilizing, bare-chested survivalist known affectionately to some former world leaders as Pooty Poot.
Despite a deeply troubled economy, international notoriety, and a ruble that has collapsed in value, Russians are standing by their man with a stunning 81% approval rating.
Mr. Putin has maintained an approval rating of 61% or higher since he has assumed high public office. (The only exceptions were his first two months in office when many Russians still didn’t know who he was.)
What can we conclude from this? Mr. Putin’s popularity went soaring within months of his taking office. His approval rating has remained high for 15 years. The more tyranical he behaves, the more popular he becomes.
Putin’s popularity, therefore, is likely to due something else: Russians don’t think highly of Western-style democracy. .Forty-five percent of Russians believed a Western-style democracy would be destructive to the country.
The unsettling conclusion is that an anti-democratic, tyrannical bully who is willing to invade his neighbors for the sake of Russian glory is exactly the sort of leader Russians want. Mr. Putin is not acting in defiance of the will of the people; rather, he is the embodiment of the Russian mindset. This is deeply troubling.
Russians want Putin as their leader, and thus, they deserve whatever economic catastrophe likely awaits them in the not-too-distant future.
