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How much of the unpopularness is Putin, and how much is the man on the TV told them they should find Putin unpopular?
Many people I find that express their disfavor towards Putin, would still believe any number of 'Russian interference' narratives, the Steele dossier, etc.
Very little, if any.
The cultural reach and credibility of legacy "mainstream" media outside of college-educated Democracts has declined preciptously over the last 10-20 years, to the point where "believing what the man on TV told them" is strongly anti-correlated with "normie" politics.
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There is no real reason for an American to like Putin, so like, not much? I know there is a significant amount of anti-Putin propaganda out there, but even absent that there's not really any reason to like him. He doesn't actually ride bears, and he does actually, at best, waste everyone's time and money clinging to power and saber rattling.
And he doesn't even do cool stuff with his aggression like nuke Tehran. Its all boring border squabbles with his weaker neighbors.
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These people view Russia as a corrupt tinpot dictatorship propped up by oil money and connections to organized crime. They don't see the racial/religious kinship towards Russians that wignats tell them they should; 'white and christian' are not adjectives they'd use to describe Russia. They see Putin as a thuggish oriental despot overseeing all the Russian state has ever been- a brutal tyranny that fails at its goals without outside assistance due to the savagery and treachery of its inhabitants.
To the extent that the TV told them this, the TV told them this during the cold war. Most don't believe Trump-Russia connections, or ascribe any mystic powers to Russian foreign services. They hate Russia and the core red tribe was in large part raised to hate Russia- I was taught that it was a savage land which blends the worst aspects of Asian civilizations in with things stolen from the west by a cruel, treacherous people who can barely keep the lights on, and are the enemy of all that's good and free.
Do they believe Russia is unique in this? This describes alot of places.
Who said anything about being unique?
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No. They hate Iran and Venezuela and mistrust Saudi Arabia. But the median redneck opinion is to group Russia in with that set of notoriously oppressive countries and not to see it as some outpost of the old European civilization.
Conservative American russophilia is far overstated in popular media, and russophiles are seen like hardcore conspiracy theorists or antivaxxers would have been in 2010- sure, they're mistrusting the right people, but in the most gullible and stupid manner possible.
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