Political Behavior of Millennial Voters

A Social Reality Study on the 2024 Legislative Election in Lowokwaru District, Malang City

Abstract

Political behavior of voters is one of the issues that is always interesting to discuss by both experts and political practitioners. Political behavior determines whether or not a legislative candidate is elected in the election, and also determines the victory of a political party. One of the voter groups with a very large number is millennial voters. Millennial voters are generation Y or the middle group of generation X and generation Z voters who have different political behavior from other groups. This study was conducted to describe and analyze the political behavior of millennial voters in Lowokwaru District, Malang City in the 2024 election. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach. Meanwhile, data collection was carried out through in-depth interviews with many millennial voters from various educational backgrounds, jobs, and places of residence. The theory used to analyze this study is the theory of political behavior proposed by (Harrop & Miller 1987). According to both of them, the political behavior of voters is shaped by three factors; sociological, economic, and political factors. This study describes the existence of sociological, economic, and political factors in the behavior of millennial voters in Lowokwaru District, Malang City in the 2024 election.  However, this study also found that there are other factors that shape voter behavior, namely psychological factors and political communication, especially social media that shape the behavior of millennial voters. Empirically, this study contributes to election implementation policies, especially for political parties and the General Election Commission, millennial voters can have their political behavior shaped based on the five things above. Theoretically, this study corrects the theory of political behavior of Harrop & Miller 1987 voters which states that there are only three factors that shape voter behavior, namely social, economic and political. Meanwhile, for millennial voters in Lowokwaru, Malang City, there are also other factors that shape the political behavior of voters, namely psychological factors such as the attitudes and actions of legislative candidates, and political communication carried out, especially on social media.