Russian citizens’ perception of ideal politicians: Comparative analysis of the images

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the images of ideal political leaders playing different roles, carried out by the Departmetn of Sociology and Political Psychology, Faculty of Politics, Moscow State University, in 2019–2021. In the theoretical section, the author examines the representations of the ideal political leader in the context of the theory of political perception. In the empirical section, the author describes images of the ideal president, governor, and deputy of the State Duma. A comparative analysis of three types of images is carried out according to the degree of expression of personal and professional qualities, as well as their content. The images of ideal politicians have unique role characteristics as well as a set of universal qualities. Russians are primarily concerned about personal qualities of politicians, among which moral characteristics take first place and psychological qualities take second place. Respondents expect politicians to be professionals. People are interested least of all in leaders’ appearances. The main source of images of ideal politicians’ are traditions of Russian political culture and the situational context of political perception. Ideal images are influenced by perceptions of real politicians. Results can be used for advising electoral campaigns.