Russia had a similar election where the populace enthusiastically voted for a "badass". That was in 2000, back when it was still a functioning if flawed democracy.
You can look and see how well that turned out in the long run.
Only somebody who didn't live in russia during the 90s would suggest it were a "functioning democracy." The regime in russia is not about putin, it's the spooks meet apparatchik's regime, and have been such for decades. You're really lucky to have intelligent people in the US intelligence community.
It was a mess, but we had actual elections that mattered. The parliament had factions that were fighting each other. The president didn't run everything.
But people wanted a "strong hand", and so they got sold one.
You can look and see how well that turned out in the long run.