The impact of the state policy of restrictions during the «first wave» of the covid-19 pandemic on public moods of Russian citizens

The article discusses the attitude of citizens to the regime of restrictions to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. In a review of current research, the pandemic is a factor of uncertainty that creates anxiety in society. In turn, the restrictions imposed by the authorities to overcome the pandemic are causing public tension. Under the influence of epidemiological and administrative factors, society is plunging into a state of stress and fragmentation, which accelerates the reorganization of the existing order. The focus of the study is the dynamics of the attitude of Russian citizens to the COVID-19 pandemic and the state policy to overcome it. Based on comparative sociological data from several countries, using the example of the challenge of the spread of coronavirus in Russia, the dynamics of changes in public sentiment and the reaction of citizens to the measures taken by the authorities are being studied. To determine the dynamics of public opinion, a combination of methods of event analysis of government actions, social media analysis of information messages and content analysis of sociological studies of public opinion is used. The event analysis covers the extreme period of the “first wave” of the spread of coronavirus, within which five stages of the introduction of regime restrictions by the federal authorities have been identified. Social media analysis has revealed a strong dependence of public attention to the pandemic on the “rigidity” of decisions taken by the authorities. The monitoring data of sociological studies revealed a sharp deterioration in social well-being and a decrease in the optimism of citizens during the introduction of strict restrictions that break the habitual way of life and the level of well-being. At the same time, the level of trust in the country's leadership remained stable, and the measures taken by the authorities were perceived as forced.

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