An Ideal President’s Personality: Understanding the Expectations of Russian Citizens

ABSTRACT Little is currently known about how voters arrive at their vision of an ideal president. Along with an ideal president’s traits, this study examines the domains Russian voters draw upon when formulating these expectations. 20 in-depth interviews allowed an initial list of qualities that fall into broad categories of leadership effectiveness, morality, qualifications, and sociability. The domains from which voters derive their expectations include comparative, contextual, functional sources, and leadership style domain. Furthermore, 450 interviews examined the commonness of personality expectations in a quantitative sample. The respondents were more likely to discuss specific leadership traits than social skills or qualifications.