A survey shows that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin doesn't have enough support to win a decisive victory in the first round of voting in next month's presidential election.

A phone survey of three-thousand-358 Russian voters aged 18 or above indicates that Putin would win 48 percent of votes in the election's first round on March fourth.

The survey also polled that 54 percent support would go to Putin in the second round.

The survey was conducted by an independent research group of sociologists and expert researchers from February tenth to the 19th in 82 regions around Russia.

In September last year, Putin announced his plan to return to the Kremlin and switch roles with incumbent Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.