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EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VOTING BEHAVIOR: A STUDY OF 2019 IMO STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION


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Abstract

Politics, being a big business comes with buzz and many days of struggle to be known; to be more exposed to the electorate and be able to gain goodwill. It also comes with a lot of interests and attracts many people who struggle to form a government. In Imo State, as a prelude to the 2019 governorship election that took place in the state, political advertising was launched. This study is, therefore, about political advertising and voters‟ behaviour in Owerri during the 2019 governorship poll. Survey method was adopted in generating primary data for the study. Consequently, a quantitative approach was adopted in analyzing the data extracted from 171 samples, out of the 300 samples size that was chosen based on Taro Yamane‟s formula. Simple random sampling was adopted in the distribution of copies of the questionnaire. Among other findings, the study unravelled that political advertising on and in the various mass media had little effect on voters‟ behaviour in Owerri during the 2019 governorship poll. The study also discovered that the electorate got to know more about the candidates through the political advertising but the hype did not rule out their interests and envisaged gains which made them make rational choices. Given this, the researchers recommended among others that politicians should have charismatic dispositions that will position them on the minds of the electorate, and should not depend largely on political advertising for acceptance by the electorate

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

  • Background of the study

Digital media and networks are viewed as one of the prominent priorities of scientific science in the context of political campaigns. In the other hand, literature reviews appear to concentrate on evaluating the usage of multimedia without taking qualitative considerations into consideration (Rossini et al.2017). Social media and social networking sites have brought about a marked change in the way young voters learn and follow things about politics (Hermida 2017). It is possible to read this change as a specific reflection of the general digital transformation process in the field of politics and political communication. This reflection in the field of politics and political communication; Online or online political campaign in political communication literature (Barberá et al.2015; Meriç 2017), web campaign, digital propaganda (SparkesVian 2018; Bjola 2018), internet campaign (Sparkes-Vian 2015), policy 2.0 (Campante, Durante and Sobbrio 2018), digital political marketing (Maarek 2014) and computerized propaganda (computational propaganda) (Woolley and Howard 2019; Arnaudo 2017; Bolsover and Howard 2017). Politics in contemporary Nigerian society goes with a lot of political communication. Parties manifestoes are presented to the electorate, opinions of the people manipulated, opponents blackmailed while candidates of a particular party positioned on the minds of the people as the best for the job of the president, governor and senator etc. All these are promoted largely in the media through political advertising which covers the radio, television, newspaper, magazine, billboards, poster and social media. The period clearly defined by the Nigerian Electoral Guidelines for a political campaign, leading to the Governorship Election in Imo State which took place on November 16, 2019, was not different. It witnessed campaigns by political parties who bought time on radio, television, and space in the newspaper and social media, to be able to reach a large number of electorate in Imo State. While the campaigns period lasted, the electorate was appealed to, persuaded and begged to vote candidates, as jingles, interviews and other communication strategies were adopted on and in the media to sell the candidacy of the various people jostling for the position of governor of Imo State. After the campaigns, elections were conducted and the incumbent governor, Owele Rochas Okorocha was succeeded by PDP's Emeka Ihedioha who was declared by the electoral umpire (the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC) as the winner of the poll. This is predicated on the fact that he had the highest number of the vote cast. Therefore, it is the thrust of this work to find out if the electorate voted PDP's Emeka Ihedioha or the current governor Sen Hope Uzodima and other candidates because of the acceptance of their candidacies through the political advertising amid campaigns on and in the media or voted them based on other factors. Despite these different nomenclatures, this phenomenon points to the characteristics of systematic and planned communication activities and shows efforts in the political field in the new media ecosystem dominated by the digital transformation of the internet the internet itself and social media.

  • STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The campaign is at the heart of politics as people struggle to seize power and form government. In Nigeria, this trend can be described as episodic (action-packed). The media are used more by politicians in reaching out to the electorate than other means or modes of communication. This is because media messages reach million or large heterogeneous people simultaneously in different places. During the campaign period heralding the 2019 Governorship Election in Imo State, politicians promoted themselves in the mass media and persuaded the electorate to vote them, for the position of governor of the state as they struggled to occupy the Government House. The various candidates campaigned using the mass media. The various candidates got votes but the incumbent Governor PDP’s Emeka Ihedioha got the highest number of vote cast and was declared the winner of the poll. This was against the prediction of many people who envisaged that the APC candidate Hope Uzodima would emerge victorious since he is a member of the incumbent party of the state. Also, there was a widespread accusation against Rochas Okorocha that he had changes the state to a family affair that his performance was the worst since the history of the state. The PDP candidate emerged victorious at the poll. Did the electorate change their minds and voted out APC in the state to the promises he made amid political advertising in the state? The problem of this work is, therefore, preconceived in the foregoing.

  • OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The study has one main objective which is subdivided into general objective and specific objective; the general objective is to examine the effect of social media on voting behavior; with emphasis on 2019 Imo state governorship election. The specific objectives are;

  1. To examine the effect of social media on voting behavior in the 2019 Imo state governorship election
  2. To examine the relationship between social media campaign and the voting behavior of the electorate in the 2019 election
  • To examine the level of credibility that electorate attached to social media political messages or campaign
  1. To examine the extent of the influence social media usage on youths participation in the 2019 electoral process
    • RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The follow research questions were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study;

  1. Is there any effect of social media on voting behavior in the 2019 Imo state governorship election?
  2. Is there any relationship between social media campaign and the voting behavior of the electorate in the 2019 election?
  • Does electorate attached credibility to social media political messages or campaign?
  1. Does social media message influences youth’s participation in the 2019 electoral process?
    • RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study;

H0: There is no significant relationship between social media campaign and the voting behavior of the electorate in the 2019 election

H1: There is a significant relationship between social media campaign and the voting behavior of the electorate in the 2019 election

H0: social media message does not influences youth’s participation in the 2019 electoral process

H2: social media message does influences youth’s participation in the 2019 electoral process

  • SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of great importance to political parties campaign manager as the study seek to explore the effect of social media on voting behavior, the study will also be of significance to researchers who intend to embark on a study in a similar topic as the findings of the study will serve as a reference point to further studies. The study will also be of great importance to students, teachers, academia’s and the general public as the findings of this study will contribute to the pool of existing literature and also contribute to knowledge.

  • SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers the effect of social media on voting behavior with emphasis on the 2019 governorship election. In the course of the study there are factors that limit the scope of the study;

  1. a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
  2. b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
  3. c) Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected political parties’ office holders makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities.

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Social media: Social media includes the various online technology tools that enable people to communicate easily via the internet to share information and resources. It can include text, audio, video, images, podcasts, and other multimedia communications. (www.About.com). Some popular example of social media are: Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Hi5, Skype, 2go, You tube, Linked in etc. Social media is simply “the set of web-based broadcast technologies that enable the democratization of content giving people the ability to emerge from consumers to publishers.

Youth: The period or time when someone is young especially the period when someone is a teenager (Longman dictionary). For the purpose of this study youths shall be persons from the voting age of 18 years through to 35 years only.

Voting behaviour: This has to do with youth response towards voting. There could be low voters turnout, average of large voters’ turnout. Influence: The power to affect the way someone or something behaves, thinks without using direct force or order.

Twitter: An online social networking site located on www.twitter.com Facebook: An online social networking site located on www.facebook.com

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Author: SPROJECT NG