Interconnection and Interaction of Political Parties and Voters in the State Duma Elections - 2016

The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the connection and mutual influence (political communications) of political parties represented in the State Duma and voters. The subject of the study is political communication between political parties and electoral groups. The methods of study are observation, questioning, content analysis. A number of provisions have been put forward: political parties influence the electoral choice of voters through information provided by the federal media (TV channels); this information is biased, gives one party a preference for one political party, contributing to its leadership in the electoral environment; townspeople and villagers in their sources of information and political preferences are different; political parties do not form pre-election party lists of candidates for deputies, taking into account their professional activity in the faction in the State Duma; voters are not sufficiently satisfied with the election results. The issue of the influence of information presented in the program documents of political parties on electoral choice was also considered. The difference in sources and perception of information consumed by rural and urban residents is shown. The recognition of an unfair attitude towards political agitation in the event of a social and economic crisis and the weakness of the legal opposition represented in the State Duma can lead to a crisis of legitimacy of the existing government