2019 Yerel Seçiminde Sosyal Medyadaki Siyasal Katılım Üzerinde, Siyasal Tutumlar, Siyasal Etkinlik ve Sosyal Medya Kullanım Örüntülerinin Rolü: Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Öğrencileri Araştırması

Political participation is a concept that can be evaluated in many ways, from voting at the ballot box to supporting or influencing the actions and choices of government officials, or the interest of the citizen in politics. With the development of communication technologies, significant changes have started to occur in people’s political participation. In this research, the political participation styles of university students on social media during the 2019 Turkish local elections were determined. The research examines the relationship between political participation and political attitudes, as well as between political activity and social media usage. Field research was the principal form of data collection: 283 participants took part in face-to-face surveys. As a result of the research, it was determined that the participants saw internet, social media, and television more effective in the political decision process during local elections. As the level of interest of university students in the country’s problems increases, there is an increase in the participation in politics and understanding the important political problems faced by the country. There is a not so significant relationship between party loyalty and government and internal political efficacy. It is noteworthy that internal political efficacy, party loyalty, interest in country’s problems, interest in political campaigns, and social media effectiveness in political decisions positively predict the political participation score in social media.