Regional projection of the federal youth electoral strategy: a conceptual model for the Rostov region

The article substantiates the need to modernize approaches to working with young voters. It is emphasized that the federal "Youth Electoral Concept", adopted back in 2014, requires adaptation to the conditions of digital transformation and regional peculiarities of development. The relevance of the study is due to the need to bridge the "communication gap" between the electoral system and young people, whose media consumption has almost completely shifted to the digital space. The Rostov region, with its significant youth population and well-developed educational infrastructure, was chosen by the author as the optimal site for developing a possible regional model for intensifying electoral work. The aim of the study is to substantiate the key areas of a conceptual model of a youth electoral concept for the Rostov region, the implementation of which will help overcome the communication gap between the electoral system and the young electorate at the regional and municipal levels and form a replicable model for the regionalization of the federal electoral strategy. The study is based on an integrated approach, including an analysis of the "Youth Electoral Concept" of 2014, a secondary analysis of the results of the author's sociological research (2024, n=300; 2025, n=1356) on the electoral behavior of the Don youth, as well as a comparative method and systematic modeling to construct possible foundations of the regional concept. It was found that the youth of the Rostov region have a high level of electoral activity (80% have electoral experience) and optimism (89%). However, there is a significant gap in turnout between federal (95.7%) and regional (50.7%) and municipal (20.3%) elections. This is not due to apathy, but to a "communication gap": election commissions use traditional channels of political communication, while 60% of young people receive information from the Internet and instant messengers. There is a demand for modern formats (podcasts, short videos, infographics) and a meaningful link between elections and solving local problems for young people. The article concludes that it is necessary to develop and adopt a "Regional Youth Electoral Concept" for the Rostov Region as a tool for regionalizing the federal strategy in the context of digital transformation. The author proposes key areas for developing and implementing such a document, including transitioning to digital communication channels, modernizing political content formats, promoting digital services, and substantive transformation of the agenda with a focus on issues of direct relevance to young people.