Political Party Perception and Voting Behavior of People: A Study of Communication Perspective from Nepal

Udaya Raj Paudel,Sameen Poudel,Kabita Adhikari,Rajesh Gupta

doi:10.4236/als.2018.64016

Abstract

Communication, political party perception and voting behavior of the people keep congenial nexus. Grounded on this bond, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that impact political party perception and voting behavior of the people in Nepal from the perspective of communication, particularly residing on social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In purposive sampling method perception level detailed data were obtained from 333 respondents aged 20 years and above just before the historic constitutional assembly election in Nepal. A set of questionnaires including multiple choices and Likert scale questions were provided to obtain the information. Drawing the coherent substance from Technological Determinism, Social Judgment, Agenda Setting, Uses and Gratification, and Habermas’s Concept of Public Sphere and Political Campaign theories, the research explores the roles of social media in political party perception and voting behavior. The results show that political interest is positively related to political party perception and voting behavior, which infer that political party perception is influenced by political interest of the politician. The analysis also indicates that political trust is also positively related to political perception and voting behavior, which shows that political trust highly influences political party perception. Likewise, religion and social media are also positively related to political party perception and voting behavior. The study roots on primary source of data and contributes to understand the impact of social media in the society and politics.

Highlights

Social media like Facebook, twitter and YouTube have undoubtedly changed the culture of political campaigns by creating virtual communities in which people can engage and share information
The results show that political interest is positively related to political party perception and voting behavior, which infer that political party perception is influenced by political interest of the politician
The analysis indicates that political trust is positively related to political perception and voting behavior, which shows that political trust highly influences political party perception

Summary

Introduction

Social media like Facebook, twitter and YouTube have undoubtedly changed the culture of political campaigns by creating virtual communities in which people can engage and share information. Based on the rapid development of Web 2.0 technologies, it has been argued that the diffusion of the usage of social media as well as other factors (e.g., discussion culture, average age, etc.) have a strong impact on the relevance of public internet based discourses within the political landscape in specific countries (Howard, 2006; Papacharissi, 2002; Tewksbury, 2006). Originating mostly from the disciplines of political science, communication and sociology, studies for example focus on the impact of internet access on voting (Tolbert & McNeal, 2003), the use of websites to reach voters (Jansen, 2004; Foot & Schneider, 2006), the role of the in-. We can understand that the writers distinguish clearly between three different agenda; the priorities of the media, those of the public, and those of policy, which interact in complex ways and may have effects in different directions

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