MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) - More than half of respondents in a recent opinion poll said they would vote for the Kremlin-backed United Russia party at next month's parliamentary elections.

The Public Opinion Foundation said 57% of those surveyed November 17-18 said they would back the ruling party. The Communists and Liberal Democrats are the only other parties likely to make it into parliament, with 8% each, according to the pollster.

A Just Russia, a new party seen as another Kremlin project to poach votes from leftist forces, was supported by 5% of respondents and is close to overcoming the 7% Duma threshold, the opinion center said.

Other parties, including the liberal Yabloko and Union of Right Forces (SPS) - champions of western-style capitalism and free market reforms in the 1990s under Boris Yeltsin - received 1% of respondents' support.

SPS has unsuccessfully sought via a court to have President Vladimir Putin, who tops United Russia's list of candidates, barred from running in the December elections. It accused the president of using administrative resources to promote the party.

Three thousand people took part in the survey conducted across Russia. Statistical error does not exceed 2.5%, the foundation said.