Factors Shaping Electoral Preferences of Young People Living in Saint-Petersburg

Many studies are devoted to the search for the reasons for electoral preferences towards a certain candidate. However, only a small part of them is concerned with the factors explaining change of preferences during the elections. The relevance of this study in Russia is linked to the fact that the voice of the opposition and its impact on the electoral behaviour are becoming stronger, suggesting potential changes in voting preferences. This paper examines changes in electoral behaviour in the period between two presidential elections in 2012 and 2018 among young people living in St. Petersburg - an under-researched area. The main goal of the study is to identify objective individual and behavioural factors that had could explain motivation to vote for a different candidate among residents of St. Petersburg. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used. First,150 questionnaires were collected and analysed. They served as a filter for selecting participants for the qualitative stage where interviews were conducted with 10 young residents of St. Petersburg who changed their voting preferences.  The study found that the choice of the respondent is influenced by gender, education, relocation to Saint-Petersburg in the last 6 years, changes in the means of obtaining political information through the media, and the frequency of its use, as well as the desire to change the current president, loss of trust in the candidate or dissatisfaction/ preference for a different candidate's policies. Keywords: electoral behaviour, reasons for voting, changes in electoral preferences.