Reexamining Political Communication with the New Generation of Voters: The Case of İYİ Party

Abstract

Political communication is a crucial matter for political actors and institutions to gauge public sentiment, shape public opinion, and influence the current political landscape; it acts as a bridge between the public and political actors/institutions. Throughout history, politics has continuously evolved based on its target audience and the changing world. Particularly in Turkey, the dynamics of political communication for Generation Z, characterized as a new generation of voters with distinct expectations, goals, and political perspectives, have taken on a different dimension compared to various social groups. Political actors and institutions strive to reach the new generation of voters, engage with their interests, and develop effective communication strategies to gain the support of this voter group that is considered the future of the country. This paper explores a different perspective on political communication, emphasizing transparency and equal opportunities, integrating digital and interactive communication into every issue, and examines how such communication strategies were employed by the İYİ Party in digital platforms. The research was conducted between January and June 2023, incorporating recent elections and campaign data. This study is significant in understanding political communication strategies, observing how these dynamics take shape through technological innovations and the targeted audience, and assessing the impact of this communication style on active political participation. The focus on the İYİ Party, which received 9.96% of the votes in its initial elections, demonstrates its distinct political communication strategy compared to other parties, further highlighting the study's importance. The objective of this research is to showcase the transformation of political communication with new-generation voters in the era of social media and digitalization, using the İYİ Party as a case study. The research employs a qualitative approach in two phases. In the first phase, a literature review collected data on the impact of political communication on voters. In the second phase, the social media accounts of the İYİ Party were analyzed to determine their focal topics and strategies through their posts. Additionally, voter reactions were observed based on the identical posts. This process examined how political communication evolved through trends and posts to connect with new-generation voters on social media. In conclusion, İYİ Party’s political communication strategy focuses more on topics relevant to new-generation voters, such as equal opportunities, diversity, education and technology accessibility, welfare policies, democracy, social justice, and rights. These topics are approached with a digital interaction-centric perspective, making political interaction more interactive. * This study is based on the master's thesis titled "Political Parties and Voter Behavior Dynamics in Turkey: The Case of the İYİ Party," conducted at the Department of Sociology at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University.