Putin likely to win presidential race with 81.1 percent of votes: Poll

MOSCOW -- Russia's incumbent president Vladimir Putin is likely to win the 2018 presidential race with 81.1 percent of votes, leaving all rival candidates far behind, a public opinion poll by the government-owned research center VTSIOM showed Monday.

About 67 percent of the Russian citizens tend to take part in the voting, among which 81.1 percent of the people would support Putin, according to a special research project launched by VTSIOM for the 2018 presidential elections on March 18.

Results of the research also showed that Pavel Grudinin, a farmer supported by the Russian Communist Party, might get 7.6 percent of votes, while Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, might get 4.2 percent.

TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak is likely to get 0.7 percent of votes, and Grigory Yavlinsky, founder of the opposition Yabloko party, would get 0.6 percent. The Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights Boris Titov might just get 0.3 percent.

The survey was conducted over the phone on Jan. 8-10, involving 3,000 Russians aged more than 18 years old.