Political Advertising and Young Voters Information Needs

Abstract

. In the election campaigns, young voters will be exposed to a variety of political pieces of information created by political parties to influence either their political efficacy orin formation-seeking. Political advertising has become one of the main political information sources during election campaign. In political advertising, political advertisements are designed to serve multiple purposes, whether to persuade, influence, attack, inform or manipulate the voters’ information-seeking. Meanwhile, the role of young voters in political process is a crucial study that needs to be addressed by scholars. Researchers in this field are eager to know how this target group uses political information to meet their information needs and usage. Therefore, in this study, an exploratory study by using Sense Making Methodology (SMM) was conducted to understand how young voters’ political situation affects their information needs and usage. The participants of the study consist of nine universities’ students from Klang Valley. The findings show that political advertisements do have an impact on their political situation and voting decision. Some important political issues do influence their political situation. In this exploratory study, parents do play a significant role in influencing young voters’ political situation. Therefore, this paper will discuss the role of political advertising in voters’ information-seeking and voting behaviour