if living in russia taught me anything, people in distress reduce themselves (and got reduced) to the most basic questions, like who is to blame, and populists have them like a piece of cake.

Most vatniks, not unlike MAGAs, don't have answers to many questions, they want to be left alone to manage the hole they happened to be born into, and the promise of a candidate or ideology that does just that or even paints their quest as a herioic one, or a sacred sacrifice, would win again and again until there is someone to work with that and educate them.

They are used to live in shit and depend on themselves, don't know anything better and become pretty jealous if others get that. Others having it worse, especially their 'enemies', kinda makes their own living more bearable. Their struggle is a downpainment for a mission of punishing the unworthy ones.

When a person is downscaled to that childish level of consciousness it's impossible to reach them with rhetorics that don't directly benefit them.

As long as they continue to be like that and their thoughts are unchallenged, they'd always vote maga.