A internet como instrumento para a formação da consciência política de eleitores universitários e sua relação com o voto

Abstract

The latest political events in Brazil will deeply affect the country’s republican history and demand in-depth work by distinct fields of academic knowledge, such as political science, political marketing, sociology and political psychology, among others. Politics has split the country and become the dominant subject on newscasts and social networks. In a moment of technological disruption, in which internet asserts itself as the media vehicle with the highest penetration, especially among undergraduate students, this work presents important considerations about the emerging media influence in shaping political awareness of such voters. This study has been carried out in the light of Prof. Salvador A. M. Sandoval’s political awareness model. This work also looked into the psychosocial determinants that frame the undergraduate’s political awareness and the relationship among the triad variables formed by political awareness, vote and ideology (left-wing/right-wing). Inside a stormy scenario, in a blatantly inefficient and corrupted political system with weakened political parties, Brazilian voters elected, in the second half of 2018, the country’s new president. This present time was a remarkable moment to study the effect of the broad internet narrative contention over the undergraduate student. To appraise the elector’s vote, we considered four theoretical models of voting behavior: the sociological model, the psychosocial model, the rational choice model and the dominant ideology model. The research subjects were undergraduate students of different colleges in Greater São Paulo, from several areas of knowledge