Learn Russian: Педагоги сомневаются, поддержат ли чиновники инновацию. - The educators doubt whether the officials will support the innovation.

The particle ли cannot start a clause in Russian. It must be placed immediately after the word being questioned. Since the doubt is about the action itself (will they support it or not?), the verb поддержат comes first in the second clause, immediately followed by ли.

Is the comma before поддержат required here?

Yes, it is strictly required. Russian grammar dictates that subordinate clauses, including indirect questions with ли, must be separated by a comma from the main clause. This is different from English, where we usually do not use a comma before 'whether'.

In the context of reporting views, how does сомневаются change the sentence structure compared to verbs like 'believe' or 'say'?

Verbs expressing a firm statement or belief usually connect to the next clause with что (that). However, because сомневаться expresses uncertainty, it typically introduces an indirect question using ли (whether) to show the alternatives. If they were doubting a previously stated fact, you could also use the phrase сомневаются в том, что.

Why use the perfective verb поддержат rather than the imperfective будут поддерживать?

The perfective future поддержат is used because the educators are focused on the final result or a one-time decision: getting the officials' approval for this specific innovation. The imperfective would imply a continuous or ongoing process of support, which isn't the primary focus here.