Political Attitude as a Determinant of Political Behavior in Local Elections among College of Arts and Sciences Students of Liceo De Cagayan University

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the attitudes and behavior of Liceo de Cagayan University College of Arts and Sciences toward local elections as determinants of political culture. Employing the descriptive research design, it aimed to determine the (1) respondents’ level of political attitude toward local elections in terms of knowledge about electoral process, knowledge about local elections, and the view of self (role) in the local election; (2) respondents’ level of political behavior toward local elections in terms of interest in local elections, likelihood of participation in local elections, and likelihood of influence in local elections; and (3) the significant relationship between the respondents’ attitude and behavior towards local elections. Through simple nonsystematic random sampling, the 15 target sample size was obtained out of 113 students. A researcher-made instrument which was pretested to establish validity and reliability was used to gather the needed data. To determine the respondents’ level of political attitude and the respondents’ level of political culture, the percentage was used. Lastly, to establish the relationship between the respondents’ level of political attitude and level of political culture, the Pearson Product Moment Correlation was applied. The study discovered that respondents have high knowledge about electoral process, and knowledge about local elections. They rated themselves as having a high role (selfrole) in the local election. In terms of interest in local elections, the respondents have high likelihood of participation in local election, and likelihood of influence in local elections. From the findings, it can be said that most of the students of the College of Arts and Sciences are highly knowledgeable in terms of the electoral process in the local elections and also consider themselves as important actor who play a significant role in the electoral process. The students would have likely participated in the May 10, 2010 Elections and might have influenced others or the electoral contest. Thus, they are highly political and participative “political man”.