Well, objectively... Yulia earned one more point for the team than Plushy! Such a monumental achievement! :-)
Jokes aside, this result just shows the effect of expectation vs. reward. Yulia is 15; she still seemed vulnerable. Heck, her programs even used her vulnerability to tug at the heartstrings (this is not a criticism against Yulia--I love her and her programs, and I wanted to give her a hug after that disaster at individuals). Frankly, it's easy to see why she caved under pressure after the team event, especially with those journalists hounding her (the same ones who later slammed Plush, I'll bet).
On the other hand, Plush has been the forerunner of Russian figure skating for over a decade. He started competing in seniors before Yulia was even born. Even with all the injuries, he seemed so... untouchable. It was inconceivable that the guy who brought home three Olympic medals (and contributed greatly to the fourth) would withdraw on home ice.
Plus, I'm not sure how much regular people knew about his injuries. Canadian TV here didn't even mention those during the team event, just said he barely competed over the past four years (without explaining why he didn't compete.) NBC seemed more concerned about rehashing Vancouver. :kli_ny: (though credit to them for being complimentary outside of that dumb intro). I suspect Russians knew more about the injuries than overseas people, but considering the timing of the poll, it looks like a gut reaction without knowing the facts/circumstances. Also, as Cekoni said, some of those respondents might be upset about the situation, rather than feeling like Plush himself should've done more. At least we know one thing: Plushy is always at the centre of attention--to be at both ends of the poll! ;;-)))
The ones I feel most sorry for are actually Tatiana and Maxim. I mean, geez, these two brought the pairs Olympic gold back to Russia, but only 7% picked them?! I guess it's once again expectation vs. reward. Yulia was a breakout hit. Tatiana and Max ended up as an expected, "good day at the office" win.