Putin to Win Presidential Vote in First Round, Polls Show

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will probably win Russia’s presidential election in the first round on March 4, three surveys published today showed.

Putin has the support of 66 percent of decided voters, said Lev Gudkov, director of the independent Levada Center. The prime minister has 53.5 percent backing, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, a state-run pollster known as VTsIOM, said today. Putin is set to capture 58.7 percent of the vote, according to the projection of the Public Opinion Foundation, or FOM, published today.