Against all the anger of Russian voters, the Kremlin has marshalled its media allies to broadcast a single, clear message: You might not like Yeltsin, but he's the only candidate who can prevent the potential upheaval and chaos of a Communist victory.
And conversations with ordinary voters in Volgograd suggest that the message is sinking in. Despite their lack of enthusiasm for Yeltsin, many voters see him as the lesser of two evils. They're worried that a Communist triumph might trigger another traumatic and wrenching change in Russian society."Every time we have a new leader, a new disorder begins," said Irina Gorbenko, 28, a saleswoman of diet products.
She plans to vote for Yeltsin, even though she acknowledges that he has made mistakes. "Any new leader will pull the blanket onto himself and make things unstable," she said. "As long as Yeltsin stays president, he will manage to keep order."
After a year of selling Herbal Life products, Ms. Gorbenko is already making more money than her father, who works at a state factory and hasn't received a paycheck in three months. But she suspects that a Communist victory could spell the end of private businesses. "I'm afraid that everything we've built with our own hands will be taken away by the Communists."
Valentina Malaya, a retired physician, is still undecided about her election choices. But she definitely won't vote for the Communists. "I don't want any more changes," she said. "I want to live in peace. I don't want to return to how it was."
Antonina Andreyeva, an 80-year-old pensioner, is not very keen on either of the two front-runners. But if she's forced to choose, she'll probably vote for Yeltsin. "He is safer," she said. "... If you think about Zyuganov, you think about the Communist times, and you feel fear."