Adam Souzis:
Do polls in russia really reflect the whole expanse of Russia or are they just representative of attitudes in Moscow/St. Petersburg, etc.?
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Good question. Depends on the poll. The place is so big -- normally I see a statement like "1,600 respondents in various regions of Russia," nothing else specified. Muscovites tend to poll as much more politically liberal (in the Russian sense of the term) than elsewhere, cuz Moscow's so rich. On the other hand, people in Msc at S-P poll much more ethnically intolerant than people in the provinces.
-- Even though I hear all sorts of stories about decrepit state of the body politic there from Russian friends (e.g. college students heroizing Stalin)
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I've met people of that age group who like Stalin, but most Stalinophiles are elderly, poor, uneducated and live in rural areas. Most people I know say any Russian leader in that situation would have done something like what Stalin did.
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it's still a bit surprising to hear that only 39% of Russians opposed having their right to vote for a governor taken away.
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Not at all. Local elections are a total sham. Regional govs are usually like feudal lords who owe their positions to connections to mafia business. Why do you think the elite in Bashkortostan is almost 100% Bashkir, even though Bashkirs are only the third-largest ethnic group? Kalmykia is another classic case.
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(well, i'll be there in couple of weeks, maybe then it will seem less surprising).
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Are you going to be in Moscow? You should drop me a line and I'll buy you a beer.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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