Moscow (CNN) With almost all of the votes counted in Russia's presidential election, the state-run Russia Public Opinion Research Center published an exit poll that showed Vladimir Putin with 76.6% of the vote.

While final results had yet to be released as Russians gathered in Moscow's Manezhnaya Square for a Putin rally, it was clear that the Russian President was well ahead of the 63.6% he secured in the last election in 2012 -- and on track to reach a widely reported goal of winning 70% of the votes cast.

That means several things: Putin can claim a clear mandate for his next six years in office. And the Kremlin can argue that Russia's system of managed democracy represents the genuine will of the people.

That's particularly key as Moscow escalates a confrontation with the West. Russia and the United Kingdom are in involved in a diplomatic feud over the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy, his daughter and a police officer in Britain earlier this month. And the Kremlin remains at odds with Washington after the United States hit Russia with new sanctions over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Several factors explain the Kremlin's ability to get out the vote.

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