i m wondering when you look at poll numbers you see this, and it s done by reputable, independent often western polling agencies. what do you sense on the ground? are those numbers real? are people scared to say something or is putin genuinely popular? i think this, fareed, is a really underappreciated fact about russia and about vladimir putin. yes, i think he is genuinely popular. i know a lot of russians personally and professionally. a lot of them, despite their liberal sentiments, despite their pro western leanings in many ways do genuinely believe that vladimir putin is the right kind of leader, the strong kind of leader, as they would characterize him, needed to manage a country as diverse and as vast as this. putin plays to that, of course. he also plays this kind of hypernags nallistic card which is that russia is a strong
russians have been voting for their next president this weekend, but i can say with almost certainty they will re-elect their current president, vladimir putin. let s go to moscow with cnn s senior national correspondent, matthew chancellor standing by. it s a strange sort of election, so i want to throw at you, three pieces of polling that i have seen recently. the washington post particular, an interesting package, and it was vladimir putin s approval rating which is still at around 82%, and i m wondering when you look at poll numbers and you see it is done by reputable independent often western polling agencies, what do you sense on the ground? are those numbers real? are people scared to say something or is putin genuinely popular? reporter: well i think this,
means more likely voters i should point out are selfidentifying as republicans. we saw this because of the tea party and the influx of all the new voters in 2010. that is really big news for mitt romney. if i were you i d look at one poll. we ll be here a week from now and i ll be smiling and you ll be frowning. there is more than one gallup poll out there. bill: this is what gallup writes now one of the most respected polling agencies in the country, right we agree on that. yes. bill: despite the hype it does note appear that early voting will have a major impact on the u.s. popular vote or be much more prevalent than it was four years ago. that s because romney leads by 5 nationally. you know how much democrats have pushed this. we ll see if this adds up to anything a weak from today. good hustle andrea, bye-bye. martha: after a wind-fueled fire destroyed more than 80 homes in new york one local lawmaker found that his home was now part of the rubble. up next we ll speak
lose their health plan. that is the break down. this includes both employer plans and individual policies that would be lost. yet the president repeatedly stood before the american people and he promised no one, absolutely no one would ever lose their plan, period. is that a presidential deception on an unpress sented scale? unprecedented scale? if you are one of the millions of americans that will lose their health insurance plan, greg, i think you think it is, and i think there is a reason why the president s approval ratings across the polling agencies, but i woke up and looked at the gallop numbers and it was 41% which is nearly the lowest level. 25% think it will make them better. this is in a very dangerous position for the democrats going to next year s election. but more important than the politics, this is about a website and health insurance. what happens if this gets to the health care delivery? that s what americans are