I would love to hear the thoughts of this leftist community, not least any comrade in Russia. In the US it's so hard to get any serious Russia news/analysis because of the propaganda here- you have red guys that love Russia & Putin to own the libs, and you have blue guys that hate Russia & Putin because it's their favorite boogeyman. I ask because I personally don't like Putin for his war on gayness (wake me up when we get to war of gayness) but I understand that countries in the US's crosshairs are those that make their history under the least self-selected circumstances. I was looking at some stats when this question came to mind:
UA
RU
So material conditions have definitely improved under Putin, which is a miracle considering the fall of the USSR and the disgrace of Yeltsin, which makes me think there are probably people out there who like Putin for rational reasons, besides owning the libs. I would love to hear your thoughts either way.
It seems like there are some people who remember the 90s clearly and see his achievements as a night-and-day comparison to that; there are the nationalists and the religious identitarians who fully back him ideologically, and there are the plurality of Russians who are either burnt out on finding something to care about, or don't see any competing option that represents an improvement over the current situation. Add in the class dynamics of his compromises, where the tycoons got to keep their stature and good graces in exchange for allowing a social safety net, and you can see how United Russia manages well over 60% every election.
Also he has been overall quite winning over the past 20 years, and people like to line up behind a winning figure.