A 2005 survey showed that three times as many Russians felt the country was "more democratic" under Putin than it was during the Yeltsin or Gorbachev years, and the same proportion thought human rights were better under Putin than Yeltsin.
2005. godine je istraživanje pokazalo da su Rusi tri puta više osetili da je zemlja bila " više demokratska " nego što je bila tokom Jeljcinovih ili Gorbačovih godina, a ista proporcija je mislila da su ljudska prava bila bolja pod Putinovom vlašću nego pod Jeljcinovom.