Explaining the Emergence and Persistence of Class Voting for Presidential Candidates in Post-Soviet Russia, 1993-2001

Abstract

Attempts to explain the effects of social class on electoral choices have focused on the relative impact of sociological, or “bottom-up,” versus political, or “top-down,” factors. We examine these contending approaches in post-Communist Russia, which has undergone both a significant economic transformation and major shifts in the politicization of class by its main electoral contenders, making it an informative context in which to examine competing explanations of the class-vote relationship. The analysis is based on data from five nationwide surveys conducted over the period 1993-2001 and provides evidence that an association between class position and presidential choice emerged in the mid-1990s in which the two largest classes, the working class and professional and managerial workers, provided a stable basis of support for the main free market versus interventionist axis of political division. These findings indicate the presence of rapid political learning among Russians and the resilience of class-based preferences despite Putin’s centrist political program