The rating turned into an anti-rating

As the recognition of the leaders of the protest movement grew, antipathy towards them also grew. The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) has published data on how recognizable the leaders of the non-systemic opposition are by Russian citizens, and what is the attitude towards them.

Alexei Navalny was known to 29% at the end of winter, while today 48% already recognize him. Gennady Gudkov's popularity rating increased from 21 to 60%. Also more famous were Sergei Udaltsov (from 13 to 39%), Evgenia Chirikova (from 12 to 20%) and Ilya Ponomarev (from 14 to 23%). The leaders of the protest movement are best known to residents of the capital. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, 40% of respondents know Alexei Navalny, 33% know Udaltsov. In the regions, no more than 13-15% have heard about them.

However, as the popularity of opposition leaders grew, negative opinions about them also intensified. The number of people who have a negative attitude towards Navalny increased from 31 to 43%, towards Gudkov - from 29 to 43%, towards Udaltsov - from 26 to 42%, towards Ponomarev - from 28 to 40%, towards Chirikova - from 24 to 39 %, while the share of people who sympathize with them remained the same. In the case of Sergei Udaltsov, on the contrary, there is an increase in positive reviews from 18 to 27%. Evgenia Chirikova also increased the number of her fans by 6% (from 22 to 28%)

The survey, conducted on September 15-16, 2012, involved 1,600 people in 138 localities in 46 regions, territories and republics of Russia.