Senior Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, who has just won the presidential election, is still an unknown politician for the majority of Russian citizens - but they're already sure about which problems the new president should address. These attitudes
were revealed in the course of the Levada Center's latest opinion poll.

Thirty-five percent of respondents said "don't know" when asked what they like about the new president - and 67% said "don't know" when asked what they dislike about him. In a similar poll just before voting day in 2000, only 20% of respondents were equally uncertain about Vladimir Putin.

Consequently, when asked which forces President Medvedev will rely on, respondents essentially parrot the "hierarchy of governance" established by the outgoing president. The president's chief source of support is identified as "regional leaders and the political elite." In the early Putin years, back in 2000, 40% of respondents held this view; this year's figure is 45%. Back in 2000, 52% of respondents said that the ex-KGB Putin would be
supported by the security and law enforcement agencies, the special services, the Armed Forces, and the Interior Ministry; only 38% say the same of Medvedev now. However, more respondents believe that Medvedev will be able to rely on the middle class (18% in 2008, compared to 10% for Putin in 2000). The third source of support for Medvedev is perceived by 26% of respondents as "state officials and the bureaucracy." Eight years ago, only 12% said that bureaucrats could be a source of support for the president. The figures for the weakest sources of support remain unchanged between 2000 and 2008: the intelligentsia (11%) and "ordinary citizens" (11%).

Citizens may not have any coherent impression of Medvedev as a politician, but they have practically no doubts about where he ought to concentrate his efforts. Only 3% of respondents said "don't know" when asked to identify priorities - less than the Levada Center's statistical error margin. Compared to polls done during Putin's two terms in office, there has been a substantial rise in the proportion of respondents who identify the main
objectives as state price regulation and higher wages. According to Levada Center analyst Lev Gudkov, people are extremely worried about inflation, which made its presence felt in last autumn's price surge. During Putin's eight years in power, the public has been convinced that only the hierarchy of governance can prevent this. That accounts for the rise in the proportion of respondents who favor expanding the state's role in the economy, revising privatization results, and minimizing the private sector.

A higher proportion of respondents also expect Medvedev to improve law and order, while also intensifying anti-corruption efforts. Gudkov says that the public's patience with the abuses of the bureaucracy is reaching its limit. Citizens believe that "only the country's top officials" can put a stop to this - which only increases the support ratings of those individuals.

Kommersant