Putin and Orban etc are very popular. With the proper propaganda propelled ruthlessly, anything is possible
Well Hungary seems to be doing a little better economically (the NYT was recently complaining that a supposed labor shortage meant that employers had to pay people better). I was just on vacation and for the first time IME there were a lot of Hungarians there too.
Putin is simply reconstructing the USSR which a great majority of ethnic Russians liked just fine and so they like him.
Poland didn't like the PRL that PiS wants to create and they don't respond well to propaganda either.
disclosure: I think that Orban isn't that bad (not great but nb, during the refugee crisis he was pilloried for saying that EU laws should be followed). Putin is pretty terrible and PiS would be a lot better off if they could divest themselves of the toxic elder generation. But tha'ts not gonna happen soon so they're pretty terrible too.
(the NYT was recently complaining that a supposed labor shortage meant that employers had to pay people better
Actually it was bloomberg
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/hungary-s-labor-woes-may-trigger-wage-explosion-minister-says