Speaker
Description
The study was conducted primarily to explore how digital political marketing, particularly social media, influences the voting behaviour of first-time youth voters with a focus on the 2024 presidential elections in Ghana. The study targeted first-time youth voters from a selected tertiary institution within the Birim Central Municipality in the Akim-Oda Constituency. An exploratory research design was employed to help achieve the objectives of the study. The study was anchored in a qualitative approach. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Expert Interviews were used to collect data from participants. Data were collected through FGDs involving 20 first-time youth voters and 5 expert interviews with professionals in the field of political marketing and political science. The recorded data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis of the data revealed
that first-time youth voters prefer to source political information from social media platforms. The data also revealed that the sourced political information translates into political knowledge, which
helps the first-timers make an electoral choice. It was discovered that social media influencers can influence the political behaviour of first-time youth voters based on how credible and trustworthy the first-time youth voters perceive them to be. The study uncovered that the unethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create fake political content, coupled with political misinformation and disinformation, a two-way communication deficit, and a surge in internet data prices, are
among the key challenges that first-time youth voters encountered during the 2024 presidential elections in Ghana. The study calls for the strengthening of institutions such as Ghana’s Cyber
Security Authority and Ghana Signal Bureau in terms of capacity building and policy regulatory frameworks.
Keywords: digital political marketing, social media, artificial intelligence (AI), political
misinformation, cybersecurity, first-time youth voters.