I’m just trying to understand. Erdogan in Turkey, Putin in Russia, Orban in Hungary etc… Why do these leaders still get so much support after all they’ve done? What do they exactly like about them?
Aren’t these people seeing a massive drop in their quality of life?
Depends on a lot of things.
Some people are outright sadistic, and just want to be able to step on others. Some people need a de facto father figure (I know a few that suffered under very abusive parents). Some just want a real-life tiny god they can worship. Some just fear. Some actually believe the lies about the fears of migrants, islamists, progressive politics, etc.
I personally voted for Orbán in 2010. I was told gay men will accuse me of homophobia if I reject their advances, that my tax will be spent on welfare for people that are able to work, that liberalism will destroy culture, that I’d be jailed for saying slurs, that “communists” will force me to do hard manual labor I"m incapable of (I’m somewhat disabled), and that feminists ruined my dating chances. I learned a week later, feminism isn’t a “female supremacist” movement, then in a year, almost all of the other lies have crumbled. And now I’m forced to work in the communal work program for full time, below minimum wage, because those old “communists” can’t differentiate between a computer and a Super Nintendo, and office work would turn me into gay (I’m bi with a strong bias towards femme people).
People love having an “enemy” to blame for all their problems.
Throughout history it was often the Jewish people. But immigrants, LGBT, racial minorities work just as well.
Life is inherently unfair. Some people are born into money and never have to work a day in their lives. Others work hard everyday and get almost nothing in return.
It where things like heaven/hell, karma, reincarnation etc. come from. Don’t worry that life sucks there’s a big cosmic force that’ll balance the scales at some point.
We crave something to blame for that injustice and they jump on that.