New voters, new platforms: How first-time Generation Z voters used social media in the 2019 Canadian federal election
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Low levels of civic participation and political engagement among young people are
persistent problems in many Western democracies, including Canada. Young voters are
increasingly less politically aware and less likely to vote, and demonstrate lower levels of civic
awareness than previous generations. Compounding this challenge, many young people either
ignore news or they consume news found through social media. This qualitative study
contributes to the literature in this field by exploring these issues through a Canadian lens
focused on first-time Generation Z voters. Two focus groups involving nine participants aged 18-
24 were conducted in Durham Region, Ontario to find out how they used social media to inform
themselves about the political parties, leaders, and issues in the lead up to the 2019 Canadian
federal election. Key findings point to a general avoidance of political news on all platforms
during the election campaign and a preference for reading comments attached to political news
stories, rather than the stories themselves, as an information source. Future research could be
expanded to explore both of these phenomena. Although the findings are limited to a small
geographic area in suburban Ontario, they confirm previous studies on news consumption, social
media use and voter behaviour among young people. Additionally, the findings contribute to the
wider literature that speaks to the need for journalists and civics educators to help young people
understand the connections between themselves and the political news stories about issues that
impact them.
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http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843
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en