Effect of Social Network and Mass Media on Turnout Rates in Italy

Abstract

In Italy, change in the voters’ behaviours of obtaining information about politics is observed from 2001 to 2019. Particularly, a continuous decrease in the number of voters between 2006 and 2018, is achieved. This study investigates whether acquiring political information from social networks (e.g. friends and relatives) and mass media (e.g. tv and radio) is related to the decision of people to vote or not. Linear regression analysis is applied to discover the relationship between turnout rate and political means. It is found that getting informed about politics from relatives, acquaintances, political organizations, trade unions, radio and weekly magazines are not statistically meaningful to explain changes in turnout rates. Friends have an impact on turnout rates in a negative direction. Besides, getting information from tv and newspapers has a positive impact on turnout rates. It is also observed that mass media is more effective than social networks on turnout rates.