Russia's public legitimacy in the pandemic and the State Duma elections

Based on the results of sociological monitoring “How are you, Russia?”, the article considers the current features of interaction between the state and civil society in the run-up to the State Duma elections of the eighth session. Given the uniqueness of the pre-election situation, caused by the impact of the pandemic and sanctions of the Western nations, the work focuses on the socioeconomic and political risks that determine the pre-election mood of Russian citizens. We have proved that in general, citizens positively assessed the measures, taken by the state to prevent the spread of coronavirus and the pandemic consequences, which influenced the assessment of actions and confidence in various state and socio-political institutions. On the other hand, such measures forced political parties to introduce problems, related to the pandemic and living standards into political discourse, which affected the socio-political climate and legitimacy nature of the election campaign. The analysis of the structure of the respondents' party and political preferences shows that the established party system met the citizens' current needs only in several functions, lagged behind the level and nature of political culture and socio-political maturity of society and sometimes contributed to the full and timely adoption of political decisions, in the preparation of which citizens can and should actively take part. The increased level of force majeure anxiety of Russian society complicates the processes of formation of a social legal state and civil society, and creates obstacles to the country's sustainable development. We believe that the joint work of citizens and authorities in countering the threats of a pandemic and attempts to split civil society can ensure the socio-political consolidation of society, and increase the public legitimacy of state institutions and election results.