Economic crisis as a factor of trust reduction for executive power in contemporary Russia: fiction or reality

Many modern Russians used to see a relatively high standard of living in the past 10-15 years, but now they face with many economic problems. In these circumstances, the article rises a very important question about the nature of the relationship of citizens to the executive power. The current leaders of the country enjoyed the support until the economy was developing steadily. Nevertheless, can we be sure, that this level of support maintains today, when the economic situation has become much more complicated? Many analysts formulate a simple hypothesis: if the economic situation has become worse - the confidence to the executive power would reduce. This article is devoted to the results of empirical verification of this hypothesis. The text is based on the results of mass questionnaire in the Sverdlovsk region, conducted by the author in autumn-winter 2015. The study results show, that despite the fact that the crisis is rather hard for many people, their relation to the executive power cannot be named uniquely bad. Most of people direct their claims only for local authorities, while the leaders of the region and the country still does not induce confidence.