Impact of Political Memes on Voter Perception: A Case Study of University Students

Abstract

This research paper aims to find the impact of political memes on voters’ perception by conducting a case study of Government College University, Lahore, targeting university students who use different social media platforms for political meme consumption. The research uses a quantitative methodology by creating a survey on Google Forms. The survey was sent to university departmental groups and also sent in person to students. A sample size of 100 voters aged 18-25 was used, consisting of 63 females and 37 males. A Likert scale was used, and multiple-choice options were also provided. Descriptive statistics (Mean, Median, and standard deviation) and Cronbach’s alpha test were also applied, which showed a value of ? = 0.65, indicating reliability for this study. The research focused on knowing whether political memes had any effect on voters’ perception, which social media platform was commonly used for political meme consumption, and whether watching political memes makes it easier to understand politics. According to the results, there was a positive association that political memes affect voting perception, Instagram was the most common platform used for meme consumption, and there was a positive association of memes making politics easier to understand. This research study helps in understanding the political memes consumption and voting perception of GCU Lahore students.