Perceptions of the ideal governor in the eyes of Russian youth

This study is devoted to analysing perceptions of an ideal (socially approved) governor among Russian youth by evaluating the effectiveness of his/her activities, personal qualities and communication in blogs. To assess how young people perceive the ideal governor, an online study was conducted of 391 young respondents aged 18 to 35 years in 2022 and 477 in 2024 (additionally, 223 people over the age of 36 participated in the study as a control group in 2024) using the author’s express methods (tested for reliability and design validity) and taking into account the political values of the respondents and their degree of dependence on social networks. The results of the study showed that the image of the ideal governor among young people is marked by the qualities of moral and functional authority, the requirements for which increased in 2024; The governors’ activities were assessed more on the results of their work (especially in the field of social support for the population, industrial development and infrastructure), rather than on the political orientation and effectiveness of blog communication (with the strengthening of the role of loyalty to the government and the president in 2024). Nevertheless, the quality of political communication in the blogosphere was important for young people, especially among those showing a high level of dependence on social networks. Preferences and evaluation of the effectiveness of the governor’s communication on blogs also differed due to the political values of the respondents. Dependence on social networks turned out to be higher among young people than among the older generation, but in 2024 it became lower than in 2022 as a result of government measures to avoid an information bias among citizens. The data obtained by original psychological methods do not contradict the research of other authors and can be used in practice, in particular, in monitoring the image of regional authorities against the background of new challenges in the life of the country.