Debate and Preference of Political Gen NET

T. Irmayani, Subhilhar, Heri Kusmanto and Humaizi

Faculty of Social and Political Science,Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Debate, Politics Participation, Net Generation.

Abstract: The level of public participation in the electoral process is not sufficient as a reference that democracy

is well established, but another process that also needs attention is the effectiveness of the electoral

process. One such process is the debate. Debate contributes for voters making rational choices.

millenial voters (net generation) are included in critical groups to fully determine political choices in the

2019 presidential election on the basis of information and enlightenment from public debates taht are

broadcast through television media. Therefore, the object of this research was conducted on net

generation of the campus at USU’s FISIP, with a quantitative approach and survey method on 150

research samples. Researchers received an answer that the debate held at the 2019 presidential election

became the main reference for the net generation in determining their choices.

1 INTRODUCTION

The presidential debate in 2019 as a momentum for

a constructive forum in politics, is carried out not

only through a television program that summarizes

all the joints of technology networks but also social

media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp

which is facilitated with all information. Debate

implementation is one of the process of determining

whether people choose because they get enough

information from watching public debates or

because of other factors. McKinney and

Chattopadhyay (2004) state that debates contribute

to voters deciding their choices rationally after being

enlightened and getting information from the debate.

The birth of the debate in a democratic party in the

presidential election mandated by Law No. 42 of

2008 article 39, which further stipulates the

provisions of the debate five times.

Debate as a form of political education for the

net generation, this generation is synonymous with

technology and speed in getting information is part

of a rational voter group, because they live in the

world at the same time: the real and virtual world. In

this digital era, dignity, politics and behavior of

politicians became the entertainment stage. Rhetoric

is sometimes upside down with work, political

forums are more filled with fashion than vision.

Digitalisation through its various channels appears

the main vehicle of the net generation

communication channels and even at the same time

political gossip channels (Street, 1997).

Table 1: Channel information source (Primary data, 2019).

Question Preference Result %

What channels are

Often used for

To get

Candidate

information

In the 2019

election?

E-mail 0 0

Social

Media

91 57,4

Political

discussion

15 6,3

Television

36,3

TOTAL

150 100

Based on initial data, the objectivity of using

information channels is dominated by social media,

television and political discussion. The presence of

the debate is an opportunity for the net generation to

be able to see the direction of the problems and

solutions offered by presidential candidates in the

2019 presidential election competition. Law

enforcement, economics, education, human rights

and infrastructure cannot be separated from national

issues which today are a challenge that must be

faced by the people, the net generation as a

generation that has different characteristics, which

cannot be separated from the modernization of

technological advances in looking for sources and

Irmayani, T., Subhilhar, ., Kusmanto, H. and Humaizi, .

Debate and Preference of Political Gen NET.

DOI: 10.5220/0010012100930098

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 3 2019) - Social Engineering Governance for the People, Technology and Infrastructure in

Revolution Industry 4.0, pages 93-98

ISBN: 978-989-758-472-5

data related to presidential candidates offered by

political parties.

The digital generation lives in the era of

information obtained openly from the internet

including options in the online market. The digital

generation in the world also faces several crises and

problems. The unique historical experiences of these

digital generations have shaped them to have a

relationship with politics and their communities as a

generation who likes to live in groups (Gilman and

Stokes, 2014).

Students ofFISIPUniversitas Sumatera Utara

represented the net generation who participated in

the 2019 presidential election, determined that the

strategic issues that caught their attention to watch

the debate through the available channels. While in

terms of media use, of the 150 students who watched

the presidential debate, 49.7% of them watched the

debate using YouTube, followed by 27% through

television and the rest live on Facebook and

Instagram accounts.

Benoit and Airne (2005) in their research

examined a comparative study on the political

discourse of American presidential debate from

1976 and 1984-2004. This research used a functional

theory analysis which he developed based on the

ideas ofTheir concludes that there are three functions

of political debate, namely the appeal, attack, and

verbal defense between debates. The results showed

the level of use of the functions and sub-functions of

political discourse in the presidential debate in the

United States affect their preferences in choosing.

The function of political discourse involves three

forms of statement, namely the appeal, attack, and

defense which incidentally is directed at the younger

generation.

Ruth Milkman in A New Political Generation:

Millinneals and The Post-2008 Wave of Protest

denies the stereotypical millennial generation that is

usually considered narcissistic, selfish, and apathetic

towards politics (Milkman, Ruth. 2017). America's

educated millennials can actually form a new

political movement that has an impact on American

socio-political life. Ruth Milkman's research looks at

the progressive movement of young people starting

since the American financial crisis in 2008. This

movement continued during the American election

period won by Barack Obama as president. Young

Americans take part and campaign for the direction

of change that Barack Obama will bring to

Americans, 2000 full-time people and 1 million

volunteers working full-time. The result, 66 percent

of millennials voted for Barack Obama.

The movement of the American digital

generation was also felt by the impact of Donald

Trump's campaign days. Together with the right

wing populist movement they managed to package

the issues that became the victory of Donald Trump.

In addition to the increasingly active millennial

generation in political movements, they also form

communities and become involved in social

movements.

Also conducted research under the title

"Democracy 2.0: Millennial-Generated Change to

American Governance" (Gagnier, 2008). The results

of the study found that millennials seek forms of

self-definition and channels where they can produce

their own solutions to the problems of society,

organizations (especially those led by millennials)

by utilizing the affinity of this generation through

technology and social networking. In the absence of

existing social boundaries, democracy 2.0 allows

citizens to build democracy through digitization as a

reference.

2 METHOD

This research uses a quantitative approach with case

studies in digital generation (Kathryn, 2009: 41).

Quantitative approach using survey methods takes

samples from the population using a questionnaire as

a tool for collecting data and individuals as a unit of

analysis. It can also be explained as the

accumulation of basic data in a descriptive way.

Data obtained in the form of written documents

and the results of in-depth questionnaires and will be

analyzed using quantitative analysis with survey

methods, as well as using an expansive descriptive

research design in order to clearly explain the results

of the study (Edelmann and Cruickshank, 2012).

This study uses two data collection techniques

(Bogdan & Steven, 1992); 1) documentation to

examine existing data, whether in the form of policy

documents, papers, journals, or books of previous

research results that are relevant to the debate and

politics of the digital generation, 2) questionnaire,

data was explained and analyzed through

questionnaire on 150 students of the FISIP USU

who had different choices in the 2019 presidential

election in Medan.

2.1 Research Design

This research is based on a survey conducted on July

to September 2019. The population is all majors at

FISIP USU. Data collection was carried out by

ICOSOP 3 2019 - International Conference on Social Political Development (ICOSOP) 3

direct survey to active students. This research uses

purposive sampling technique according to the

following criteria that respondents have the right to

vote in 2019. The number of targeted respondents is

150 people. Of the 150 questionnaires, 147 were

filled out and returned, and all of them were valid.

The type of questionnaire given to respondents in

this study was a closed and open questionnaire,

preferences about their perceptions.

2.2 Description of the Respondents

Creswell (2010:24) notes that the quantitative

approach is the measurement of objective data and

statistics through scientific calculations derived from

a sample of people or residents who are asked to

answer a number of questions about the survey to

determine the frequency and percentage of their

responses. In Medan, there were a total of 147

respondents as can be seen in the Table 2.

Table 2: Characteristics of respondents (Primary data,

2019).

No Characteristics of

respondents

Frequency %

1 SEX

Male

Female

53,4

46,6

AGE

<20

20-25

25-27

25,5

56,3

18,2

3 EDUCATIONAL

BACKGROUND

Political Science

State

Administration

Bisnis

Administration

Social Welfare

Sosiology

Anthropology

Social

Communication

Studies

Taxation

15,5

20,4

15,6

9,9

8,9

7,9

14,7

5,9

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Debate and Strategic Issues

The 2019 presidential election debate was a place

for political education for the digital generation as

voters. Students at USU's FISIP are a net generation

that almost all students use gadget and social media

as a means to get the information they need,

including their sensitivity to the sustainability of the

presidential debate in 2019. Besides being an

inseparable part of political objects, the net learning

generation of the conditions and problems that exist

in the midst of society. So they become a critical

partner in the sustainability of democracy. Based on

the data obtained by researchers, 147 of 150 students

had watched the presidential debate and considered

the presidential debate as a very important program

for the community.

Table 3: Urgency of the 2019 presidential debate (Primary

data, 2019).

Questions

Preference

Result

A B C

1. Have you

ever

watched the

2019

presidential

debate?

Ever 147 98,5

Never 3 1,5

- 0 0

2. Is the

presidential

debate

important?

Yes 147 98,5

No 3 1,5

- 0 0

3. Did you

choose the

candidates

in 2019?

Yes 147 98,5

No 3 1,5

- - -

TOTAL 150 100

Debate is important for the digital generation and

it is very helpful for them to get information and

direction of Indonesia's development to the

competition by competing candidates. Not only that,

the digital generation is required to be more critical

of the issues that exist in Indonesia. Strategic issues

that were debated during the 2019 Presidential

Election debates are issues that are indeed a

challenge for the nation going forward. Raising

strategic issues such as economic conditions, law

enforcement, education issues, human rights

enforcement, and infrastructure development are big

issues that can have a direct impact on people's lives.

The appointment of these strategic issues can

become a new forum for information for the public.

Through this generation of debates, it will be

judged who the candidates who really master the

debate material, the problems and who are just

talking. Who really is capable and who only wins

popularity. Debates serve to analyze which types of

information are more substantial and transfer

confidence in the context of the issue, according to

the challenges of different generations. Content

Debate and Preference of Political Gen NET

produced by the net generation is more likely to trust

information shared by the media, both through

whatshapp, facebook, and several other online media

(Dabholkar and Sheng, 2012).

The awareness of the net generation in providing

an assessment of the contentious issue is an advance

in the perspective of political literacy. They can

learn the debate theme in advance through social

media or surf the internet by utilizing the devices

they have. So when the debate takes place, they

already know what points are the weaknesses in the

issue that is the theme of the debate. When the

debate is over, they can give an assessment of the

arguments of each debate participant by verifying

and comparing information from the sources they

received (Carlin, 2004).

Raising strategic issues in the debate contestation

is one way to introduce vital points that need to be

addressed by elected presidential candidates going

forward. That way, the net generation as part of the

community can know where the nation's direction

will be taken by the presidential candidates if they

succeed in office. In addition, this debate event can

be a test of the candidates' commitment between

their words and deeds before and when they have

served as president/vice president. Therefore, raising

strategic issues in this Presidential Election debate is

one of the right ways to oversee the candidates'

commitments so that what is said during the debate

is in line with what is done while serving in relation

to the debated strategic issues.

The results show that the personality of the

candidate is polarized in 5 types: popular, simple,

decisive, honest and elitist. Joko Widodo was

identified in simple candidate positioning (19.1%)

and populist (23.2%). While Prabowo Subianto was

identified as a candidate who was firm (24.1%),

honest (26.5%) and elitist (7.1%). See Table 4.

Table 4: Validity and reliability.

3.2 Political Preferences of Net

Generation in Medan City

Entering the digital era today, political education is

not only obtained through formal institutionsbut also

by utilizing the technological sophistication that

already exists today. Opened information gates

deliver the net generation to the ease of gaining

access to whatever is desired. For the net generation,

this information gate can influence their political

preferences according to the information flow they

receive.

The presence of social media that allows us to be

able to communicate with anyone. Including the net

generation, through social media accounts such as

they can get any information posted by the political

figure and communicate with them. So that the

information present on the net generation social

media pages is information from the political figures

that they follow.

This easy access to social media also makes it

easy for them to comment on, like, or even share and

disseminate information posted by these political

figures. So, indirectly, the net generation who

participated in social media activities like this had

already been engaged in passive political activity. It

is said that passive political activity is because they

do not actively participate in direct movements, but

instead participate in disseminating information that

allows others to follow that information.

In Medan, based on data obtained by researchers

the net generation is more likely to follow political

preferences from discussions and social media as a

source of information. Not surprisingly, social media

is usually used as a place of discussion, so that

political shifts based on information ensued. Such a

political shift is best explained as a shift in attention.

One set of symptoms replaces the other in public

awareness, providing a new basis for voting

decisions (Simon, 1997). Following the net

generation which incidentally is the younger

generation, then this approach tends to be done as a

political preference of the net generation. In fact, the

2019 Presidential Election debates were held

together in several coffee shops/cafes in the city of

Medan, and after the debate was completed, a

discussion forum was immediately made to dissect

the contents of the presidential election debates.

Debate has a role to explain the personality and

vision, mission and candidate's linguistic experience.

The variety of messages and meanings, both explicit

and implied, can be included in the debate forum.

The researcher explains the attachment to the debate

and political preferences of the net generation in the

ICOSOP 3 2019 - International Conference on Social Political Development (ICOSOP) 3

2019 presidential election, namely in the scheme

below (Figure 1 and Table 5).

Ideology 31,9%

Vision/ Mision 40,1 %

Factor X 29,8 %

Jokowi 47,19 %

Prabowo 52,81 %

Figure 1: The net generation political preference scheme at

FISIP USU (Processed questionnaire data, 2019).

Table 5: Results and explanation of political

preference schemes (Processed questionnaire data,

2019).

3.3 Media and Implications

More than twenty years ago, there were 3 cases that

were unpopular with the government in Southeast

Asia who were disliked by their people and

protested through the popular resistance movement.

In the Philippines in 1986, the people power

movement succeeded in ousting Marcos from the

presidency. In 1992 in Thailand, famous for the May

Events, ousted the government of Suchinda

Kraprayoon from state power, and Indonesia in 1998

(McCargo, 1999).

The media can have two clear implications of the

continued debate substantially from political

competition. First, the results increase the critical

power of the net generation using social media

related to assessment skills as the main means of the

2019 presidential election. The extent to which

incumbent performance is increasingly dependent on

social considerations, and the extent to which the

solutive values offered by the challenger, the results

of this study imply that media use finalizing the

political choices especially the net generation in

Medan City. Thus, the net generation must consider

increasing critical and selective values which

include not only the assessment of skills and

personality, but also evaluations of contributions

related to their role (Chen, 2014).

Table 6: Implications based on media sources.

Majors

You

tube

Face

book

Insta

gram

Political Science

9 3 6

State Administration 5 13 7

Business Adm

5 3

Social Welfare 3 7 3 4

Sosiology 4 5 2 5

Antropology 3 9 2 1

Communication 7 11 1 2

Taxation 3 4 2 3

Percentage

27,5 49,7 13,5 9,3

The second implication is usefulness for

information convenience and data speed. This

research shows that the net generation is

increasingly seen as a large component of the "ideal"

political market of the future. So far, the debate and

political preferences can be generalized to the net

generation that cannot be separated from the various

spheres of media use. Seeing this hegemony, the

implications of the media are building partnerships

to facilitate an effective transition from the baby

boomers generation to the net generation.

The media as part of the process of realizing

information disclosure of political preferences that

consider all sub-criteria can be considered high

quality in a democratic system, which can thus be

considered successful by various groups taking part

in the holding of elections. While the type of

political topics most frequently read/ watched/ heard

by respondents is political news, following political

talk shows, political memes, political chat in the

instant messaging group.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The net generation is a generation that has a strong

sensitivity to the situation of political development,

a generation which is one form of the development

of the times in Indonesia. Basically, the net

generation is the generation whose birth coincided

with the emergence of technological advancements

and is still growing today. The net generation has its

own wisdom in view and understanding of politics

Debate and Preference of Political Gen NET

which is part of the sovereignty of their beliefs. This

can be seen from the concept of life balance between

technology and politics in their daily lives. Some

things can be exemplified as their habits in using

social media, information dissemination, hobby in

groups or forming innovative communities.

The research also revealed that the digital

generation considers political topics as important

topics. However, respondents (in relatively large

numbers) admit that they still follow political news,

which is mostly accessed from online and television

media. The political preferences of millennial

generation also tend to be high. Especially their

participation in becoming members and actively

supporting the 2019 presidential candidates,

participating in demonstrations to support or reject

government policies, and contacting government

people, politicians, or officials to fight for the

interests of the community. The results of this study

also mentioned that although most respondents had

high political participation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research came from our research which was

funded by individuals who were active as lecturers

at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences,

Universitas Sumatera Utara.

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