Different but not that different: New media impact on young voter`s political participation

Abstract

To examine the impact of new media and youth on the 2011 Singapore General Election, this post-election national telephone survey interviewed 447 young Singaporeans aged 21 to 35. Young Singaporeans, on the one hand, engaged more in this election due to the prevalent use of new media; on the other hand, with higher dissatisfaction over media control and cynical attitude towards the government, almost 50% of them still trusted old media and a higher percentage of them supported the ruling party instead of the opposition. The results show that the youth who were aware of media content control still spent more time on mainstream media than new media, and perceived the former as more important and trustworthy sources of election information. Data analysis reveals that media use was significantly correlated to youth`s perceived importance of media on voting decisions. Mass media still had more influence on youth`s voting decisions, but the impact of new media on young citizens` votes was greater than on older counterparts. The study also finds that more mature, less-educated, and female respondents tended to support the ruling party more.