Political communication: uncovering knowledge, attitudes and young voters readiness for PRU-15 in Batang Padang District, Perak

Siti Nor Amalina Ahmad Tajuddin

Abstract

Malaysia made history when the Dewan Rakyat approved an amendment to the Federal Constitution that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years old. The countrys democratic system was colored by the automatic registration of those who turned 18 as voters for the 15th Malaysian General Election (GE-15). This amendment aims to democratize the political process in this nation and promote mature, fair, and equitable elections. This ongoing study aims to discover young voters' knowledge, attitudes, and readiness toward the 15th general election (PRU-15) in Batang Padang, Perak district. Methodologically, a quantitative approach was used where 462 youth participants completed questionnaires. The findings discovered that although attitudes and readiness among young voters in the research population are at a moderate level, they have a high level of knowledge. The result also uncovered five key factors that influence young voters readiness towards making their decisions for PRU-15 namely voting is my responsibility, the good reputation of elected representatives, peer influence, the implementation of the Undi-18 policy by the government and family support. The study thus contributed to a new landscape of political communication through young voters contribution not only to casting the ballot during the election but also to participating in the countrys leadership as members of parliament. 2023, Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.

References

Borg, M., & Azzopardi, A. (2022). Political interest, recognition and acceptance of voting responsibility, and electoral participation: young people’s perspective. Journal of Youth Studies, 25(4), 487–511. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2021.1902963

Chin, J. (2023). Anwar’s long walk to power: the 2022 Malaysian general elections. Round Table, 112(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2023.2165303

Chmielewski, T. L. (2012). Applying the elaboration likelihood model to voting. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 6(10), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.18848/1833-1882/cgp/v06i10/52160

Collins, J., & Block, R. (2020). Fired Up, Ready to Go: The Impact of Age, Campaign Enthusiasm, and Civic Duty on African American Voting. Political Behavior, 42(1), 107–142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-018-9488-y

Corrigall-Brown, C., & Wilkes, R. (2014). Media exposure and the engaged citizen: How the media shape political participation. Social Science Journal, 51(3), 408–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2014.03.009

Datts, M., Wiederholz, J.-E., Schultze, M., & Vowe, G. (2021). Political Communication Patterns of Young Adults in Germany. Frontiers in Communication, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.729519

Jerit, J., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Political Misinformation. In Annual Review of Political Science (Vol. 23). https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032814

Lee, H. (2020). Voters’ involvement, attitude, and confidence in the era of new media. Palgrave Communications, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0368-9

Leong, P. (2015). Political communication in Malaysia: A study on the use of new media in politics. EJournal of EDemocracy and Open Government, 7(1), 46–71. https://doi.org/10.29379/jedem.v7i1.372

Leong, P. P. Y. (2019). Malaysian Politics in the New Media Age: Implications on the Political Communication Process. In Malaysian Politics in the New Media Age: Implications on the Political Communication Process. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8783-8

Mohamad, B., Dauda, S. A., & Halim, H. (2018). Youth offline political participation: Trends and role of social media. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 34(3), 172–192. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2018-3403-11

Msoroka, M. S., & Amundsen, D. (2018). One size fits not quite all: Universal research ethics with diversity. Research Ethics, 14(3), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016117739939

Oosterhoff, B., Wray-Lake, L., & Hart, D. (2022). Reconsidering the Minimum Voting Age in the United States. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(2), 442–451. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691621994221

Rajandran, K., & Lee, C. (2023). Politics in Malaysia: A Discourse Perspective. In Asia in Transition (Vol. 18). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5334-7_1

Robinson, P. (2019). Expanding the Field of Political Communication: Making the Case for a Fresh Perspective through “propaganda Studies.” Frontiers in Communication, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00026

Strömbäck, J. (2022). Media-centric or Politics-centric Political Communication Research? Some Reflections. Political Communication, 39(2), 280–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2021.1966598

Susila, I., Dean, D., Yusof, R. N. R., Setyawan, A. A., & Wajdi, F. (2020). Symbolic Political Communication, and Trust: A Young Voters’ Perspective of the Indonesian Presidential Election. Journal of Political Marketing, 19(1–2), 153–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2019.1652224

Tariq, R., Zolkepli, I. A., & Ahmad, M. (2022). Political Participation of Young Voters: Tracing Direct and Indirect Effects of Social Media and Political Orientations. Social Sciences, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020081