The Duma election was important in itself and as the prelude to the presidential election. Although Vladimir Putin's name was not on the Duma ballot, the outcome was interpreted as a triumph for him. The two parties backing Putin, Unity and Right Forces, took almost 32 per cent of the vote, while among parties associated with other candidates 24 per cent voted Communist; 12 per cent favoured Fatherland-All Russia, which had two potential presidential candidates; and parties led by Grigory Yavlinsky and Vladimir Zhirinovsky barely cleared the 5 per cent PR barrier. Other would-be candidates were associated with parties that won even fewer votes. The Duma vote implied that Putin would have a generous lead over Zyuganov in the first-round ballot for the presidency and would undoubtedly win the second-round ballot against a Communist candidate.

A VTsIOM poll taken during the weekend of the Duma election confirmed the apparently unassailable lead of Putin. He was endorsed by 41 per cent, compared to 12 per cent backing Gennady Zyuganov, and 7 per cent favouring Yevgeny Primakov. No other would-be candidate was favoured by more than 3 per cent of the electorate. When don't knows, would not votes and against all respondents were excluded, support for Putin stood at 55 per cent of voters, with 16 per cent for Zyuganov and 9 per cent for Primakov. If Putin could maintain such support until election day, he had a good chance of winning the presidency outright in the first-round ballot.