Digital and traditional political participation of high school students just before the 2023 presidential election in Turkey

Abstract

The youth population rate in Turkey is quite high compared to other European countries. According to official figures, there are 13 million people between the ages of 15 and 24 in Turkey. In the presidential election on 14 May 2023, 5 million young people will vote for the first time. This is a high number considering the total number of voters. In this article, we focus on political participation of high school students. This study has two main aims. First, it aims to determine the digital and traditional political participation of high school students ahead of the presidential elections in May 2023. Secondly, it aims to examine the relationship between digital and political participation. Exploratory sequential design, one of the mixed-method designs, was used in the study. Quantitative data were collected from 682 young people aged between 16 and 20 using the ‘Digital and Traditional Political Participation (DTPP)’ scale. In order to better understand the quantitative results, face-to-face interviews were conducted with fifteen young people. Multiple regression and correlation analysis techniques were used to analyse the quantitative data. Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis, according to classification of political participation theoretical framework. The results of the research show that young people’s political participation is low and at the level of spectator activities. Students mostly prefer to follow politics in digital environments through social media and young people do not prefer to participate in political transitional and gladiatorial activities, either traditionally or digitally.