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The effectiveness of election information support as a factor in raising awareness of Russian youth about the voting procedure

Morozova Galina Viktorovna

ORCID: 0000-0002-7833-0283

Doctor of Economics

Professor; Graduate School of Journalism and Media Communications; Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University

420111, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Professor Nuzhin str., 1/37

galina.morozova@kpfu.ru
Yakupov Bulat Ildarovich

ORCID: 0000-0003-0055-0806

Senior Lecturer; Graduate School of Journalism and Media Communications; Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University

420111, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Professor Nuzhin str., 1/37

bulatj@inbox.ru
Gavrilov Artur Romanovich

Senior Lecturer; Graduate School of Journalism and Media Communications; Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University

420111, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Professor Nuzhin str., 1/37

ARGavrilov@kpfu.ru

DOI:

10.25136/2409-8698.2024.11.72365

EDN:

QOGXQC

Received:

18-11-2024


Published:

02-12-2024


Abstract: The object of the study is the awareness of the youth segment of the electorate about the voting procedure in the elections of the State Duma and the President of the Russian Federation. The subject of the study is the impact of election information support on the level of awareness of the youth segment of the Russian electorate about the voting procedure and date. The authors' attention to youth is due to its socio-demographic characteristics, which mark a transitional period of development, lack of life experience and being at the stage of civic formation. The authors of the article consider raising awareness of young citizens about elections as a result of work on informing about the upcoming elections, creating conditions for equal access of this population group to sources of information about the electoral process. Special attention is paid to the connection between youth awareness of the elections and information campaigns conducted in the run-up to the elections.  The main research method was a comparative analysis of the results of the information work of the CEC of the Russian Federation with various segments of the electorate represented by VTSIOM for the period from 2016 to 2024. The analysis was carried out according to such parameters as the level of awareness of the youth segment of the electorate about the election procedure and the date of voting. The article presents the results of measuring the effectiveness of information support for the electorate during election campaigns in the Russian Federation, identifies and argues the degree of awareness of its youth segment about the main components of the voting procedure in elections for the period 2016-2024. The main conclusion was the revealed dependence of the level of awareness of young people about the procedure of elections of authorities on the age factor. Between the two age groups compared, the work on information support of the electoral process most effectively affects the age group of 25 - to 34–year-old respondents, rather than the youth aged 18-24. The data obtained allowed us to conclude that more careful work is needed when preparing publications for the youth segment of the electorate. It is necessary to take into account not only the interests, needs, and problems in the social development of each age group of young people, but also the nature of their perception of content and its presentation forms.


Keywords:

elections, election campaign, election information support, voter information, youth electorate, youth, election awareness, voting procedure, the effectiveness of informing voters, electoral process

This article is automatically translated.

1. Introduction

Elections to government bodies are of key importance for the development of the state for many years to come. Great attention is always paid to elections so that they take place in compliance with all legislative norms. The election campaign, conducted in compliance with the requirements regarding the legitimacy, honesty, and transparency of the voting procedure, ensures that citizens fully exercise their rights to freedom of choice, increases the rating of the government, trust in political elites, and develops and strengthens civil society institutions. Transparency and honesty of the election procedure is not only a factor in strengthening the authority of state power and national unity in the country, but also an important condition for the recognition by the world community of compliance with democratic norms and principles of development in the country.

One of the main conditions for holding legitimate elections is the turnout of citizens to vote. The appeal of voters to vote in elections is carried out by campaigning and informing them using all available means of communication. Such work is aimed at raising awareness of citizens about the election campaign, its timing, candidates, voting conditions, developing the electorate's interest in elections, realizing the importance of exercising their rights and freedoms for the present and future of the country, and forming an attitude to participate in voting.

During the preparation of the election campaign, communication is being built between government agencies and the electorate, citizens, suggesting their step-by-step interaction, the mechanism and forms of which are set by ensuring the effectiveness of the elections and approving their results. The primary condition for the success of the campaign for the election of authorities is to inform citizens about the upcoming elections, create conditions for equal access of all population groups to these sources, regardless of the territorial and settlement conditions of their residence, socio-demographic parameters, and professional qualification status. To this end, an information campaign is being organized to raise public awareness of the upcoming elections, taking into account the specifics of all segments of the electorate. One of its key components, which require special attention and thoroughness in campaigning, is the youth electorate. In this regard, it is important to emphasize two key circumstances. Firstly, young people, due to their socio-demographic characteristics, are going through a transitional period in their development, have no life experience and are in the stage of civic formation, which in itself requires increased attention and special treatment. At the same time, young people themselves are very diverse, with different levels of education, vocational training, life values, orientations and attitudes that determine perception and attitude to what is happening in the world. It should also be taken into account that it is the youth cohort that has become the main user of the media environment, as indicated by numerous studies [1-3]. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that young people not only spend a lot of time in the media space, alone with a huge amount of information from different spheres, but their socialization, integration into society has acquired, in fact, a media format that has displaced traditional institutions, family, school, which complicates the work of information and communication channels in this regard a segment of the electorate, and it is not always possible to convey information about the elections to it, since the used

youth communication channels, their choice, algorithms of functioning, content and forms of presentation influence what messages this audience receives.

Secondly, information work with the youth segment of the electorate is being built not only for the near future, but also for many years to come, as it is necessary to lay the foundation for normative electoral behavior, its conscious active participation in the political life of the country, as a way of self-realization and self-expression. In this regard, the issue of evaluating the effectiveness of information support for elections, determining the confidence of young people in communication channels, preferences in the forms and nature of content presentation as factors influencing youth awareness of elections becomes relevant.

2. Methods

The main sources of empirical data are VTSIOM studies for the period from 2016 to 2024, including the results of studying the level of public awareness about the election procedure and the date of voting, including among young people. The statistical methods used to analyze information on the youth electorate, comparative analysis of the information work of the CEC of the Russian Federation with various segments of the electorate made it possible to identify the effectiveness of media support for election campaigns conducted by the CEC of the Russian Federation, the level of satisfaction of citizens with information received about the election procedure of authorities over the eight-year period under study.

3. Results and discussion

The results of the analysis of the dynamics of the effectiveness of election information support for the period from 2016 to 2024 revealed a small, but still growing trend in the awareness of young people about the procedure of election cycles and the date of elections. So, in June 2016, three months before the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the majority of respondents among the youth electorate (76% aged 18-24 and 70% aged 25-34) called either the wrong date or did not give an answer at all about the timing of the upcoming elections (VTSIOM-SPUTNIK - VTSIOM daily All-Russian telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/arhivarius/questions/e8598c2b-79a5-4246-9fac-d6a68373f15d/cross/c2938956-f297-450d-ab1c-200c39969212 ). The data obtained undoubtedly indicate the ignorance of the majority of respondents about the ongoing election campaign. But measurements of the awareness level of the youth electorate conducted a week before the elections showed that half of them (51% of respondents aged 18-24) and more than two thirds of respondents aged 25-34 (69%) correctly named the election date. At the same time, 10% in both groups correctly indicated only the month when the elections will be held. (VTSIOM-SPUTNIK is a daily All-Russian VTsIOM telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/arhivarius/questions/5bb4d394-03f5-4f75-b75e-776f0dd83cfc/cross/5caf68f2-587b-4c5e-a11c-0e0478557ed1 ) Thus, the data obtained allow us to state that the active media support of the election campaign carried out by the CEC of the Russian Federation and other actors involved in the information support of the election procedure did not pass unnoticed for the youth segment. It led to a positive dynamic in the level of his awareness, although this time lag fell on the summer period, which complicates the work on media support for the election campaign in all age categories and especially among young people, since vacation, its organization is usually associated with the dominance of other interests, leisure preferences and needs. Nevertheless, thanks to the work on media support for the electoral procedure, the number of those who correctly named the voting date increased 2.2 times (in total, in both age categories - 27% before the start of information support and 60% after its end). In this regard, it is important to take into account all possible risk factors, various events and information occasions that potentially pose a threat to weaken the attention of the population to the election campaign, and develop measures to neutralize them when planning information support for the electoral process.

The next cycle of elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation was characterized by a lower level of public awareness of its holding (VTSIOM-SPUTNIK - VTSIOM daily All-Russian telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/sputnik/questions/ea99bc74-2852-419d-acb9-00e9a5aa68af/cross/86e17e03-f212-481b-b52a-18dbc96f4e37). So, as of January 2021, nine months before the elections, only 3% of respondents aged 18-24 and 6% among the youth cohort of 25-34 year olds named the correct voting date. The majority of respondents (92% in total) either gave the wrong answer, or found it difficult to answer, or did not give an answer, or heard about it for the first time, of which 94% turned out to be among 18- to 24-year-olds, and 90% among the older group of 25-34-year–olds, which is 1.3 times more than in the previous cycle of elections to the State Duma - 92% and 73%, respectively.

If we compare the results obtained in connection with the identification of the effectiveness of information support for election campaigns for the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 2021 and 2016, then in the 2021 elections there were about the same number of respondents with information about their procedure and date. So, a week before the election, more than half of the respondents in the age group of 18- to 24–year-old voters, who were able to name, for example, the correct date about the day of voting, were 52% against 51% in the 2016 election cycle. (VTSIOM-SPUTNIK is a daily All-Russian VTsIOM telephone survey: (https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/sputnik/questions/ea99bc74-2852-419d-acb9-00e9a5aa68af/cross/3cd8f400-3f9a-4006-bc31-af313b428aae) In the older cohort of 25- to 34–year-old respondents, 66% of those participating in the study knew the date a week before the election, compared to 69% of those surveyed in 2016. The low level of awareness among young people about the date of elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation may be caused by situational factors related, for example, to insufficient awareness of their work, with the adoption of unpopular legislative decisions or, the opinion formed in the youth consciousness, about their inaction to address topical issues that have arisen in the country. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the problem of interaction of the younger generation with the legislative branch of government, studying the level of trust in it, rating among young people requires serious research, due primarily to the importance of the task of developing and strengthening Russia as a rule of law state.

The results of a comparative analysis of youth awareness of the procedure for the presidential elections of the Russian Federation in 2018 and 2024 allow us to conclude that young people are significantly more interested in these election cycles, compared with the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Thus, according to the results of a survey in April 2017 for the 2018 presidential elections, (in total - in the younger and older age groups) about a quarter of respondents (23%) correctly indicated the year of the next presidential election of the Russian Federation (VTSIOM-SPUTNIK - VTSIOM daily All-Russian telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/sputnik/questions/d0db1839-0840-4ba1-9323-bb37d841c0cc/cross/96ae7f14-2014-47eb-b2c5-2fc791543925). More than half of the respondents (65% in total – in the younger and older age groups) found it difficult to answer, saying that they were hearing about it for the first time and did not answer the question, or indicated an incorrect answer, which is 1.1 times less than among the respondents during the 2016 State Duma elections.

No less important is the other result obtained, which confirmed the effectiveness of the information and campaigning work of the subjects of information support for the electoral process. Just as during the election campaigns to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, measurements of the level of awareness about the upcoming presidential elections on March 11, 2018, exactly one week before the elections, showed an increase in awareness of the electoral process among young people. Thus, the absolute majority of respondents (89% aged 18-24 and 94% aged 25-34) give the correct answer indicating the month and year of the next presidential election of Russia( VTSIOM-SPUTNIK is a daily All-Russian VTsIOM telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/sputnik/questions/6e990f6f-8a64-436f-855b-ac5eccb1f280/cross/9adcf5d8-5320-4e78-a7e4-d6459c4655c0). Thus, in the younger group, the increase in awareness increased by more than six times, and in the older group of 25 - to 34–year-olds by 8.5 times - from 11% to 94%. In the presidential elections of 2024, three months before the voting day, 31% of respondents at the age of 18 - to 24-year-olds and 41% of respondents aged 25 - to 34–year-olds (VTSIOM-SPUTNIK - VTSIOM daily All-Russian telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/sputnik/questions/5cc8ca73-691f-495b-afc7-5a7dea2769e3/cross/0e2bef13-7553-4636-ab03-74b3d932316a). During three months of intensive media support for the election campaign, the awareness level of the youth segment of the electorate increased to 81%, of which 76% of respondents aged 18-24 years and 86% in the age cohort of 25-34 years, an increase of 2.25 times, from 36% to 81%. ( VTSIOM-SPUTNIK is a daily All-Russian VTsIOM telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/sputnik/questions/2cfaeb6d-bd6c-454e-be88-73120053d970/cross/ac3f3b61-f875-4aab-9e01-4f56cc2ddc23)

The results obtained undoubtedly indicate a low interest of young people in political development, a rather low willingness to participate in elections, as well as to participate in any other forms of political life. The political absenteeism of Russian youth is a mirror image of the behavior model of the younger generation in the political development of Western countries of the modern world, in which Russia has not become an exception [4-8]. There are many reasons for this, both related to the characteristics of the younger generation, its socio-demographic characteristics, the transitional state into adulthood, lack of life experience, weak integration into society, as well as environmental factors and, above all, the unprecedented impact on public life of the media sphere. The rapid development of technology, the digitalization of media, and its multifunctional structure have ensured satisfaction not only of the needs of the younger generation in communication, but also contributed to the movement into the media sphere, in fact, of all the processes of formation and development of a young personality, its socialization and self-realization. At the same time, recorded by many studies, a certain detachment of young people from the world of politics, from participation in it, is not harmless for society, for its political organization, since it disrupts the processes of interaction of political institutions with the younger generation, undermines the legitimacy of the power vertical, and poses a threat to the future development of the country. In this regard, the study of the peculiarities of the attitude of young people to political institutions, their interest in the world of politics has always been significant for the government and today is the subject of numerous studies.

4. Conclusions

The results of the analysis of the effectiveness of media support for elections of public authorities in the Russian Federation during the four election cycles of 2016-2024 show a steady increase in awareness of the electorate and its youth segment about the upcoming vote, which allows us to conclude about the effectiveness of the information tools and methods of communication used. The results of a special survey on the assessment of the work of the CEC of the Russian Federation and its activities to provide the population with information about the date of voting are also confirmation of this conclusion: 33% of respondents aged 18-24 assess the work in this area as "good", and another 53% - as "very good". In the senior youth group (25 years – 34 years), almost two thirds of its members (59%) rated the work of the CEC of the Russian Federation on informing about the voting date as "good", and 28% of respondents as "very good") (VTSIOM-SPUTNIK - VTSIOM daily All-Russian telephone survey: https://bd.wciom.ru/survey/sputnik/questions/b54fd586-6bd1-41c4-a958-16ba447ed5d8/cross/e522fbc6-3cfe-423c-8e10-2bbf507cc43f).

At the same time, there are obvious differences in the awareness of young citizens depending on election cycles. For example, the number of respondents among young voters who are aware of the date of voting in the presidential elections of Russia is consistently higher than the same indicator during the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, although there were twice as many campaign materials for the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 2021 as in the presidential elections of 2018 (4370 campaign materials in 2021 versus 2064 in 2018) (The official online publication of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation: http://vestnik.cikrf.ru/vestnik/publications/analytics/). It can be assumed that a higher degree of awareness of the youth segment is determined not only by the sources, nature and forms of content presentation, but also by the level of trust and authority of various branches of government. According to research, the President of the Russian Federation has the highest rating and authority among young people, which, apparently, causes the increased interest of the youth electorate in the procedure of his elections [9].

The study confirmed the dependence of the level of awareness of young people about the procedure of elections of authorities on the age factor. Thus, the work on information support of the electoral process to maintain and raise awareness about the election campaign has a more effective effect on the age group of 25 - to 34-year-old respondents than on young people aged 18-24. The data obtained require greater care in preparing publications for the youth segment of the electorate, taking into account not only the interests, needs, and problems in the social development of each age group of young people, but also the nature of their perception of content and its presentation form.

References
1. Gorshkov, M. K., & Sheregi, F. E. (2019). Russian youth within the context of sociological analysis [Monograph]. FNISC RAN. Retrieved from https://www.isras.ru/index.php?page_id=1198&id=7555; https://doi.org/10.19181/monogr.978-5-89697-317-1
2. Poluekhtova, I. A. (2022). Practices of media consumption of Russian youth in the digital society (according to the results of an empirical study). Knowledge. Understanding. Skill., 3, 90-107. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.17805/zpu.2022.3.8
3. Arkhangelskaya, I. (2024). “Our community”: Consumption of entertaining content in social media by Russian youth, 2022–2024 (based on the empirical research). Znak: Problemnoe Pole Mediaobrazovanija, 2(52), 75-84. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.47475/2070-0695-2024-52-2-75-84
4. Pyrma, R. V. (2019). Electoral participation of youth in the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia (comparative study). Politeia: Journal of Political Theory, Political Philosophy and Sociology of Politics, 4(95), 188-204.
5. Moiseenko, N. A. (2020). Electoral behavior of young people: Managerial aspect. Economy. Sociology. Law, 2(18), 80-88.
6. Morozova, G. V. (Ed.), Laptev, V. V., Gusev, S. N., & Myuller, D. G. (2024). The main tendencies of media consumption of student youth of Kazan [Monograph]. Kazan: KFU Publishing House.
7. Dunas, D. V. (Ed.). (2021). Mediaconsumption of “digitalized youth” in Russia [Monograph]. Moscow: Faculty of Journalism of MSU, Publishing House of MSU.
8. Dunas, D. V., & Vartanov, V. A. (2020). Youth as media audience: Theoretical approaches in Russian media studies. Theoretical and Practical Issues of Journalism, 9(1), 106-122. https://doi.org/10.17150/2308-6203.2020.9(1).106-122
9. Morozova, G. V. (Ed.), Laptev, V. V., Gusev, S. N., & Myuller, D. G. (2012). The social wellbeing of student youth of Kazan [Monograph]. Kazan: KFU Publishing House.

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The reviewed article "The effectiveness of information support for elections as a factor in raising awareness of Russian youth about the voting procedure" corresponds to the specialty 5.9.9. Media communications and journalism (sociological sciences). The title of the article is relevant to its content, which will be interesting to anyone who is engaged in sociological research in the field of election information support. The work consists of four parts – introduction, methods, results and discussion, conclusions. The introduction notes that one of the key constituents of the electorate, which requires special attention and thoroughness in campaigning, is the youth. In this regard, the issue of evaluating the effectiveness of information support for elections, determining the confidence of young people in communication channels, preferences in the forms and nature of content presentation as factors influencing youth awareness of elections becomes relevant. The solution of this issue seems to us quite relevant. For this study, the main sources of empirical data are VTSIOM studies for the period from 2016 to 2024, including the results of studying the level of awareness of the population about the election procedure, the date of voting, including among young people. The statistical methods used in the work to analyze information on the youth electorate, comparative analysis of the information work of the CEC of the Russian Federation with various segments of the electorate allowed the author to identify the effectiveness of media support for election campaigns conducted by the CEC of the Russian Federation, the level of satisfaction of citizens with information received about the procedure of elections of authorities over the eight-year period under study. The main part of the article presents the results of an analysis of the dynamics of the effectiveness of information support for elections for the period from 2016 to 2024. The author provides a sufficient amount of statistical data, and their analysis allows us to draw conclusions that do not cause much doubt. Thus, the chosen methods for this study are very productive. In general, the article is easy to read, corresponds to the genre of a scientific article, the logic of the research is clearly traced. The research goal set by the author has been fully achieved. The results obtained by the author certainly have practical significance. The work is accompanied by a list of references, which consists of 9 sources that are quite relevant and relevant to the topic of the article, however, it is worth noting that some of them lack the total number of pages (see 1, 6, 7, 9 sources). This remark is easily eliminated by the author and does not affect the overall positive impression of the results of the presentation of the conducted research. Thus, on the basis of all the above, I believe that the article "The effectiveness of election information support as a factor in raising awareness of the Russian youth about the voting procedure" meets all the basic requirements for such works and can be published in the Litera magazine after the removal of this remark.