<p>AbstractTitle: Electoral campaigns, social media and young voters – a studie of how Moderaterna andSocialdemokraterna are going to reach out to the young voters in the electoral campaign of2010. (Valkampanjer, sociala medier och unga väljare- en studie av hur Moderaterna ochSocialdemokraterna ska nå de unga väljarna i valet 2010).Number of pages: 45Author: Sara RothmanTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and communication studies CPeriod: Autumn semester 2009University: Division of Media and Communication, Departement of Information Science,Uppsala University.Purpose/ Aim: The aim of this essay is to research how the two largest parties in Sweden,Moderaterna and Socialdemokraterna, are going to reach out to the young voters in theelectoral campaign of 2010. I will also find out how the young voters are going to collecttheir information before the election. That information will be compared to the strategies ofthe parties, in that way I can tell if their strategies match the young voters plans ofinformation search.Material/Method: In my eximination I chose to use two informant interviewes and fourdifferent groups of discussion. The informant interviewes were directed to the two peoplewho are in charge of the communication in the two largest parties in Sweden, Moderaternaand Socialdemokraterna. Two of the groups of discussion contained young people who aregoing to vote for the first time in the election of 2010, and two of the groups contained peoplewho will be voting for the second time. They were four people in every group. The people incharge of the communication in the parties were contacted thru e-mail and I met them on theirworkplaces. The young voters were partly friends of mine who brought people they knew tothe groups. In that way some of them knew each other, but not everybody.Main results: One important thing that I realised after the discussion with the young voterswas that there is a big difference between those who are going to vote for the first time andthose who will vote their second time in the election of 2010. It is impossible to characteriseyoung people as one group because they are all so different from each other. I also found outthat the young people use different media, and so will the parties in their campaigns. It is hardto satisfy all youth but my study shows that many needs will be satisfied because bothtraditional media and new media will be used in the electoral campaigns.Keywords: Electoral campaign, social media, young voters, strategic commnunication,Moderaterna, Socialdemokraterna</p>

AbstractTitle: Electoral campaigns, social media and young voters – a studie of how Moderaterna andSocialdemokraterna are going to reach out to the young voters in the electoral campaign of2010. (Valkampanjer, sociala medier och unga väljare- en studie av hur Moderaterna ochSocialdemokraterna ska nå de unga väljarna i valet 2010).Number of pages: 45Author: Sara RothmanTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and communication studies CPeriod: Autumn semester 2009University: Division of Media and Communication, Departement of Information Science,Uppsala University.Purpose/ Aim: The aim of this essay is to research how the two largest parties in Sweden,Moderaterna and Socialdemokraterna, are going to reach out to the young voters in theelectoral campaign of 2010. I will also find out how the young voters are going to collecttheir information before the election. That information will be compared to the strategies ofthe parties, in that way I can tell if their strategies match the young voters plans ofinformation search.Material/Method: In my eximination I chose to use two informant interviewes and fourdifferent groups of discussion. The informant interviewes were directed to the two peoplewho are in charge of the communication in the two largest parties in Sweden, Moderaternaand Socialdemokraterna. Two of the groups of discussion contained young people who aregoing to vote for the first time in the election of 2010, and two of the groups contained peoplewho will be voting for the second time. They were four people in every group. The people incharge of the communication in the parties were contacted thru e-mail and I met them on theirworkplaces. The young voters were partly friends of mine who brought people they knew tothe groups. In that way some of them knew each other, but not everybody.Main results: One important thing that I realised after the discussion with the young voterswas that there is a big difference between those who are going to vote for the first time andthose who will vote their second time in the election of 2010. It is impossible to characteriseyoung people as one group because they are all so different from each other. I also found outthat the young people use different media, and so will the parties in their campaigns. It is hardto satisfy all youth but my study shows that many needs will be satisfied because bothtraditional media and new media will be used in the electoral campaigns.Keywords: Electoral campaign, social media, young voters, strategic commnunication,Moderaterna, Socialdemokraterna

This thesis extends our understanding of a ‘puzzle of participation’ (Brody 1978). Across established Western democracies, turnout in elections has been steadily falling - at the same time, society is modernising. Central to this latter phenomenon is educational expansion, a process in which there is increased higher education (HE) enrolment, rising attainment levels, and even wider citizenship education. Under classic civic education hypotheses, such factors are anticipated to increase political literacy, raise electoral interest, and provide encouraging environments for political participation. Hence, the patterns we observe in turnout present as paradoxical. This is especially evident among the very youngest electors, who comprise arguably the most educated generation yet but are also the least likely to vote. The thesis thus poses the question: Why is the comparatively higher level of education enjoyed by young people today not associated with a higher level of voter turnout? My response takes inspiration from Norris’s ‘critical citizens’ (1999, 2011) and combines this with repertoire replacement (Dalton 2008; Norris 2003) and sorting model (Nie et al 1996) theories to develop an argument based on a multiplicity of education effects on turnout. Specifically, I present a thesis which contends that higher levels of education today encourage the emergence of a non-voting disaffected citizenry, characterised by two distinct dimensions. The first, a dissatisfied-disaffection is thought to be present among growing student populations. It is this demographic group which, in response to its members’ HE experiences, is challenging established political processes, becoming more demanding of an active role in politics, and turning to alternative participation activities when opportunities arise. Within this I posit two non-voter types: (a) frustrated electors, committed to voting yet exasperated by the responsiveness of political actors and their policy offers at elections, and (b) engaged activists, pointedly rejecting voting in favour of more direct and ongoing influencing activities. The second dimension reflects alienated-disaffection. Here, individuals who lack HE experience are seeing their status and position decline in line with educational inflation, and, as a consequence, experience limited political network mobilisation, find their confidence for participation falling, and so withdraw from politics altogether. They are marginalised citizens. Meanwhile, a number of young people will continue to vote, receiving encouragement from their social networks and partisan attachments; mobilised voters. This thesis makes its contributions in testing and refining these propositions in the case of the British electorate using data from the British Election Study, British Participation Survey, and the Citizens in Transition Survey. Through a range of statistical techniques (including logistic regression, latent class analysis, and structural equation modelling) I devise new ways of operationalising disaffection, and assess its varied impact on turnout. This thesis progresses to explore typologies of participation repertoires, within which combinations of disaffection attitudes and turnout behaviours exist. It then examines in more detail the educational mechanisms through which these occur.

No description available.