Comment by walkhour | Hacker News Reader

Comment by walkhour | Hacker News Reader

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It's amazing how many people ignore this, pretending only a lonely lunatic thinks this is a good idea.

Putin's approval rating is at 70% [0]. From [1] (referring to the invasion of Crimea):

> President Putin's approval rating among the Russian public increased by nearly 10% since the crisis began, up to 71.6%, the highest in three years, according to a poll conducted by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research, released on 19 March.[346] Additionally, the same poll showed that more than 90% of Russians supported unification with the Crimean Republic

So it looks to me that most Russians supported the Crimea invasion. Why would it be different now? I find it hard to believe that if Russia hadn't found such a stubborn resistance and would've been able to annex Ucrania quickly, which was what the Russian government thought would happen, in five years all the polls wouldn't show Russians supporting the invasion.

[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-ra...

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_...

Who collected those statistics and how closely connected are they with the state?

Putin has a 70% approval rating in the same way Stalin had near 100%.

I get where you are coming from, but falsifying election results and population polling are a bit different. putin himself is polling very frequently to get feedback (or validation) and until a few weeks ago there were even somewhat credible polling agencies that showed lower numbers but still majority.

> I get where you are coming from, but falsifying election results and population polling are a bit different

Do you remember "garbage in - garbage out"?

If people fed nothing but bravado on how the glorious leader shines the path to the wonderful future, how in the world they would see him in a negative light?

The last two years showed everyone what even the professionals are happy to spew an utter nonsense, directly contradicting their profession and education, just because they want to feel that way.

And remember - population polling gives you information on how people feel about something, not why do they feel that way.

PS:

"Let us ask your opinion on these matters:

1. How do you feel about our President?

#a I'm delighted to live in this glorious days and I'm fully supported our glorious leader!

#b I'm a shithead and prefer to spend the rest of my days in gulag."

Hyperbole, sure, but how the poll is constructed, where it was performed also matters.

I kind of agree with you on "garbage in - garbage out" .. majority eats up garbage and therefore approve putin. Decision to eat garbage still lays with them.

On the other hand, I have a limited amount of empathy and at the moment it is being consumed by people who are actually being bombed by not their own government.

> Decision to eat garbage still lays with them.

Hmm, no.

I would say believing that garbage is on them. [1]

But when you have nothing other than garbage?

Don't forget what this is the country where you can be detained for holding an invisible placard [0] - so saying something out of the party line is a quick way for the unemployment at least, hence the people who could had provided some other info (primarily on TV) have big incentives not to do so.

[0] https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-protest-arrests/25324619.html

[1] which is another joke because half of those people lived or at least were born when "government never tells the truth" was the default MO even for the government itself.

Well, reading Youtube comments will make you want to puke on the whole of Russia. And no, there's zero chance it's all bots.

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