NEWSWATCH VIDEO: “Where does Putin’s support come from? [with Graeme Robertson]” – NYU Jordan Center/Ben Dalton

May 1, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

“In 2011 and 2012, Vladimir Putin faced a crisis of popularity. The announcement that he would be taking back the presidency from Dmitry Medvedev, plus blatant fraud in the 2011 legislative elections, sparked the largest protests Russia had seen in decades. … Putin’s approval rating, which had mostly floated in the 70s and up, plunged toward just 60 percent. … then Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and launched a war against Ukraine. Heady nationalism and a ‘rally around the flag’ effect pushed Putin’s approval rating above 80 percent, where it has remained ever since despite sluggish economic growth. Surveys show that the effect does not benefit Putin alone, but his government as a whole. … According to Graeme Robertson, the answer is a kind of ‘collective euphoria,’ an intense, positive emotional identification with Putin and the state … conveyed through political engagement. ‘Experiencing an event through social media or television can create a sense of … actual participation’ …”