The state-run VTsIOM opinion center forecast on Thursday that Dmitry Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister and a presidential runner, will receive 74.8 percent of the vote in the March 2 elections, Russian news agencies reported.
"This is about the number Vladimir Putin received in 2004 (71 percent)," VTsIOM Director General Valery Fyodorov was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying at a news conference. He added that 75 percent of Medvedev's electorate were those who voted for Putin in 2004.
Publicly endorsed as his choice of successor by Putin, Medvedev enjoys high popularity ratings in the country and is the clear front-runner.
Another three candidates which have passed the registration procedures ahead of the polls are Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Andrei Bogdanov, the leader of the Democratic Party.
Fyodorov forecast that Zyuganov would receive 12.8 percent of votes, Zhirinovsky 11.5 percent and Bogdanov a mere 0.9 percent.
Fyodorov said that a survey conducted among a sample of 1,600 in 46 Russian regions last weekend showed that 63.5 percent of respondents would vote for Medvedev, 5.3 percent for Zyuganov, 5.5percent for Zhirinovsky and 0.4 percent for Bogdanov.
Commenting on Medvedev's announcement on Monday that he will not take part in live televised debates, Fyodorov said this was unlikely to reduce the number of his potential voters.
Source: Xinhua
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