Pengaruh Media Sosial Instagram terhadap Partisipasi Politik Pemilih Pemula Mahasiswa Universitas Sumatera Utara Angkatan 2023 pada Pemilihan Presiden 2024

Abstract

This study aims to describe whether the social media platform Instagram influences the political participation of students at the University of North Sumatra (USU) from the 2023 cohort during the 2024 presidential election. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in Indonesia, with approximately 89 million users, the majority of whom are aged between 18 and 24 years. Social media has become a crucial tool for effective political communication, serving to shape public opinion and rapidly mobilize political support. This research is based on the theories of general elections, first-time voter political participation, and social media as a medium for political communication, using a quantitative research method. The data analysis technique employed is simple linear regression and hypothesis testing. The population of the study consists of 8,076 USU students from the 2023 cohort, with a sample size of 100 respondents. Data were collected using questionnaires distributed to undergraduate students from the 2023 cohort who actively use Instagram. The results show a proportional relationship between the Instagram social media variable and the political participation variable. The influence of Instagram on political participation falls within the low to moderate category, as indicated by an R value of 0.308, which is considered low. Hypothesis testing also indicates that H0 is rejected, thus confirming that Instagram has a influence on the political participation of university students.