Frozen polls

 

Photo in Krasnoskamensk, Russia,  March 2006, by SERGEY MAXIMISHIN, in the show "Siberia Imagined and Reimagined,'' at the Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Mass., through Jan. 10.

News stories frequently report that Russian President Vladimir Putin has about an 80 percent approval rating in polls. But what do public-opinion polls means in a police state?