Political Orientation of Russian Students: Regional Profile

Abstract

The article presents “political portraits” of students of federal districts of the Russian Federation on the basis of comparative analysis of their political orientation. Students’ political orientation is seen as manifested in the trust/mistrust of political institutions, as political value preferences, perceptions of preferred forms of political organization of society, and as a predisposition to certain patterns of political behavior. The study of the political orientation of students was conducted by electronic polling. The sample consisted of 1,130 students from eight federal districts studying in bachelor and master’s programs at the 35 largest universities. According to the study, students in the Central and Southern Federal Districts have a high degree of loyalty to the current government, as reflected in a higher level of confidence in political and state institutions and low levels of emigration and protest sentiments. Students in the North-West and North-Caucasus federal districts have a general critical attitude and a high level of mistrust of state institutions. They have a negative assessment of the situation in the country and have pronounced protest sentiments. Student youth in the Far Eastern and Volga Federal Districts tend to have more trust in the federal than the local and regional governments, and are quite active. Far Eastern students have strong emigration sentiments and have higher demands for social equality than students from other regions. Students in the Siberian Federal District have a higher level of confidence in local rather than regional and federal authorities; they also tend not to trust political opposition. There are no emigration sentiments among them and protest activity is relatively low. Students of the Ural Federal District are critical of institutions and political opposition. The level of mistrust of the opposition is significantly higher than in the country as a whole. However, despite general dissatisfaction with the current situation in the country, Ural students are not prepared to participate in protests or emigrate abroad.