Financial and Socio-Economic Factors of Support for the "United Russia" in the Parliamentary Elections

There is no consensus in the scientific community regarding the reasonableness of studying the socio-economic factors of voting in Russia. On the one hand, experts note that, in contrast to the 1990s, when statistics generally worked well as an explanatory factor, after 2000 the interest in the economic factors of voting decreased, which is partly supported by conclusions about the weakening of the connection between the Russian economy and politics as a feedback mechanism, that suggests that the electorate has a real opportunity to refuse the "services" of the current government due to non-fulfillment of the obligations to maintain the required level of the population well-being. On the other hand, researchers note that, in reality, the authorities' attention to socio-economic policy remains high, and has even increased in the last decade. Along with the active study of the socio-economic factors of voting by the researchers, it is marked that to the study of the influence of financial factors on the political results of the authorities in the literature practically no attention is paid. Thus, the research problem is in the non-obviousness of the influence of financial and socio-economic factors on the electoral efficiency of United Russia in the parliamentary elections of the 2010s. at the federal and regional levels. The study proposes to consider the problem through with the help of th theories of electoral authoritarianism, fiscal federalism, patron-client relations, and economic voting. Using regression analysis and the method of regularization, the corresponding hypotheses about the influence of socio-economic and financial factors on the support of the party in power are tested, and the effects of the factors on the electoral results of the party in federal and regional elections are compared. It is concluded that the modern political system of Russia is highly centralised, and at the same time a large patronage network exists. The clientele type of inter-level relations supposes the dependence of subnational actors on the higher authorities. In addition, Russian political system assumes the reproduction of high support at the elections, especially at the federal level. From this perspective, the work of patron-client networks is aimed at ensuring the stability of the regime and maintaining the certain level of legitimacy of the authorities. It is also noted that the recentralization of the system and the strengthening of the authoritarian nature of political processes in the early 2010s. accompanied by increased attention of the political elite to socio-economic policy, which, in particular, is reflected in the May 2012 decrees. However, the socio-economic well-being of the electorate only partly explain the voting in support of United Russia. Economic retrospective voting in the Russian parliamentary elections works in the logic of securing support for the ruling authorities as a "reward" for the region's economic growth. At the same time, a significant effect of the voter's reaction on their own well-being is demonstrated only in the form of voting for United Russia in the context of a decrease in poverty. The special attention of the authorities to the issues of increasing the wages of state employees within the framework of the May decrees has no positive effect on the support of the party. In addition, the financing of socially oriented spheres such as education, health care, social policy, contrary to the expectations, does not contribute to the electoral support of the ruling party and reduces it. At the same time, the electorate associates improvements in socio-economic well-being with the activities of the president or governors (the agents of the country's leader in the regions), while practically not placing electoral responsibility for fiscal or socio-economic policies on a party affiliated with the state system.