Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a meeting with his confidants of his presidential campaign in the upcoming presidential elections in Moscow, Russia, 30 January 2018. (EPA PHOTO)

MOSCOW, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has the support of nearly 70 percent of the public for next month's presidential election, the latest public opinion poll showed Thursday.

According to the survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), 69.5 percent of respondents said they would vote for Putin.

Pavel Grudinin, the candidate from Russian Communist Party, was second with 7.5 percentp.

The survey, conducted from Feb. 12 to Feb. 18, polled 7,000 respondents nationwide by telephone, in which they were asked the question: "If the presidential election were held next Sunday, for which candidate would you most likely vote?"

The Russian presidential election is scheduled for March 18.

It is widely expected that Putin will win by a landslide.