Gallup: Americans Have Lowest Opinion of Russia in Two Decades

As the Winter Olympics are underway in Sochi, Russia, Americans unfavorable view of the host country and its president are at an all-time high, the latest poll from Gallup released Thursday finds.

Sixty percent of Americans said they have an unfavorable opinion of Russia and 63 percent said they view Russian President Vladimir Putin unfavorably, as well, according to the poll taken Feb. 6-9 of 1,018 adults nationwide with a 4 percent margin of error.

According to Gallup, it is the highest unfavorable rating the polling group has had for both the country and its president at any time in the last two decades.

Americans' favorable view of the former communist regime started slipping in 2012, when Putin became president again.

In a Gallup poll taken in September, more Americans viewed Russia as an enemy of the United States, which had not been the case for 15 years. This came after Russia had granted asylum to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, had intervened in the Syrian conflict, and had restricted gay rights.

Putin's unfavorability rating among Americans is the highest since 1999, when Gallup first started asking about the Russian leader.

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