Populist rhetoric in electoral political space of modern Russia: regional aspect

The article presents the analysis of regional features of populist rhetoric realization as the basis of electorate mobilization. The motivational characteristics of electoral preferences are established, the strategy of populist policy in the Russian Federation is determined. The populist rhetoric defines policy as moral and ethical fight between the people and oligarchy. In electoral political space of modern Russia populism is considered in a negative connotation, it has manipulative impact on public consciousness of Russians, it forms political expectations and electoral preferences. In the analysis of regional electoral process it is necessary to consider a phenomenon of patronclient relations being a factor of electoral preferences which ensures the platform for forming the relations of domination, supremacy and subordination. In Russian electoral political space there are patriarchal, traditional, client-oriented, protest and marginal types of electoral behavior. The patriarchal (Republics of the North Caucasus, Siberia) and traditional (Saint Petersburg, Belgorod region) types create the conditions for populism use as it is easier for populists to win electorate of the senior generation which are committed to traditional values and customs. The political behavior of electorate is characterized by orientation to populist slogans of political leaders which are addressed to the axiological and emotional sphere. Expectations of the median Russian voter stipulate the tendency towards the perception of populism. The populist policy testifies to weakness of democratic institutes and deconsolidation of the public in an assessment of heuristic potential of populism. Populism in modern Russia is not articulated yet, and it does not represent complete ideology or the developed type of subjectivity. This phenomenon is often identified with the national will.