DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/politika.16.2.2025.111-138

Delving into the Political Preferences of Youth in Merauke's Border Area, South Papua

Program Studi Ilmu Politik, Universitas Musamus, Jl. Kamizaun, Mopah Lama, Rimba Jaya, Kec. Merauke, Kabupaten Merauke, Papua Selatan 99611, Indonesia

Open Access Copyright (c) 2026 Politika: Jurnal Ilmu Politik under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.

Citation Format:
Abstract

The study of young voters has become a topic of interest to various academics and a strategic issue in local political dynamics, especially in contesting the 2024 Merauke Regional Head Elections. This study analyzes the factors influencing young voters' preferences in determining their political choices. Using a quantitative approach with a survey method, this study involved 300 respondents from among young voters in Merauke Regency. Three main approaches in the study of voter behavior were used. Namely, the sociological, social-psychological, and rational choice theory approaches are used to understand the complexity of the factors that influence the electoral decisions of young voters. The results showed that the Joseph Gebze-Fauzun Hinayah pair received the highest support (46%) from young voters due to their combined bureaucratic and legislative experience. The Hendrikus Mahuze-H. Riduwan pair came second with 28% support, which shows the appeal of executive and technocratic experience in local government. Meanwhile, David Gepze and H. Kusmanto obtained 21% of the vote despite receiving support from the local political elite, indicating that the influence of traditional leaders and the political elite is no longer a dominant factor for young voters. These findings also show that young voters are more independent and rational in determining their political choices. The candidate's track record, leadership competence, and development vision and mission are more decisive factors than traditional factors such as ethnic affiliation or political elite recommendations. In addition, social media is the main source of political information for young voters, reinforcing the argument that digitalization has increased their political awareness. This study concludes that issue-based campaign strategies, policy transparency, and political communication through digital platforms are crucial factors in attracting the support of young voters in the contemporary political era.

Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: voter turnout; young voters; voting behaviour; merauke elections

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Articles
Language : EN
Recent articles
Community Governance dalam Penanganan Kasus Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan: Studi pada Rifka Annisa Women's Crisis Center Dinamika Politik Elektoral Calon Legislatif Muslim di Tengah Dominasi Kantong Politik Non-Muslim Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Imaginary Contents in the 2024 Presidential Election Campaign in Indonesia More recent articles
Most cited articles
MANAJEMEN TATA KELOLA SUMBER DAYA ALAM BERBASIS PARADIGMA EKOLOGI POLITIK KEBIJAKAN PENDIDIKAN GRATIS DI TINGKAT REGIONAL: Konsep dan Pelaksanaan di Kabupaten Rembang Inovasi Manajemen Pelayanan Publik Tim Emergency Service Kabupaten Bantaeng BENTUK RESOLUSI KONFLIK DALAM PILKADA: Kasus Pilkada Kota Yogyakarta dan Kabupaten Jepara PARTISIPASI MASYARAKAT DALAM PROGRAM PENYEDIAAN AIR MINUM DAN SANITASI BERBASIS MASYARAKAT (PAMSIMAS) di KABUPATEN BREBES (Studi Kasus Desa Legok dan Desa Tambakserang Kecamatan Bantarkawung) More cited articles
  1. Adiwilaga, R., Ridha TR, M., & Mustofa, M. U. (2017). Pemilu dan Keniscayaan Politik Identitas Etnis di Indonesia: Sebuah Tinjauan Teoritis. Jurnal Bawaslu, 3(2), 269–284
  2. Ajoi, K. M. (2016). Kedudukan Pribumi -Pendatang di Pasar dan Di Kantor: (Konflik Horisontal) Ekonomi - Politik di Papua. Cakrawala Jurnal Penelitian Sosial, 5(1)
  3. Alfarabi, M., Suardi, W., & Qodir, Z. (2021). Ethnic Identity and Local Politics: Study on Regional Head Election in Merauke Regency 2020. Journal of Government and Civil Society, 5(2), 198. https://doi.org/10.31000/jgcs.v5i2.4359
  4. Alvara Research Center. (2020). The Battle Of Our Generation: Indonesia Gen Z and Millennial Report 2020. https://alvara-strategic.com/indonesia-gen-z-and-millenial-report-2020/
  5. Arjon, S. S. (2018). Religious Sentiments In Local Politics. Jurnal Politik, 3(2), 171. https://doi.org/10.7454/jp.v3i2.123
  6. Badan Pusat Statistik Merauke. (2023). Kabupaten Merauke Dalam Angka 2024. BPS Kabupaten Merauke
  7. Bao, B. (2020). Kuatnya Kekuasaan Ondoafi di Tengah Masyarakat Urban (Studi Tentang Kekuasaan Ondoafi di Kota Jayapura Papua). E-Journal UNDIP, 1(1), 1–12
  8. Coll, J. A., & Juelich, C. L. (2022). Electoral Double-Bind: How Electoral Environments Affect Racial and Ethnic Youth Voting Behavior. Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, 7(3), 544–571. https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2022.5
  9. Databoks.Katadata.co.id. (2023). KPU: Pemilih Pemilu 2024 Didominasi oleh Kelompok Gen Z dan Milenial. In Databoks.Katadata.co.id (Issue Juli 2023). https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2023/07/05/kpu-pemilih-pemilu-2024-didominasi-oleh-kelompok-gen-z-dan-milenial
  10. Dewi, A. (2018). Indonesia. Youth identities and social transformations in modern Indonesia Edited by Kathryn Robinson Leiden: Brill, 2016. Pp. xv + 271. Figures, Tables, Illustrations, Index. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 49(2), 335–337. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022463418000085
  11. Erawaty, D. P. (2021). A Socio-Psychological Model of Urban Millennial Postgraduate Students’ Votes: Indonesia 2014 and 2019 Presidential Elections. Jurnal Politik, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.7454/jp.v7i2.1082
  12. Fernandes, A., Suryahudaya, E. G., & Okhtariza, N. (2023). Pemilih Muda Dalam Pemilihan Umum 2024: Dinamis , Adaptif dan Responsif. In Centre strategic and international studies (CSIS). https://s3-csis-web.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/doc/Pemilih_Muda_Dalam_Pemilihan_Umum_2024.pdf?download=1
  13. Fernando, H., Larasati, Y. G., Abdullah, I., Saka, P. A., Hendri, M., & Morin, L. (2024). The Abstention of Urban Students Preference in Indonesian Election 2024. POLITICON: Jurnal Ilmu Politik, 6(1), 29–52. https://journal.uinsgd.ac.id/index.php/politicon/article/view/2
  14. Firmanzah. (2007). Marketing Politik (Edisi Pert). Yayasan Obor Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-97392-5_4
  15. Fitriyah, F., Alfirdaus, L. K., & Manar, D. G. (2021). Partisipasi Politik dan Pemilih Muda: Konteks Pilgub Jateng 2018 dan Pilkada 2019 di Kabupaten Temanggung. Politika: Jurnal Ilmu Politik, 12(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.14710/politika.12.1.2021.1-10
  16. Ham, U., & Octaviani, H. (2022). Dampak Kebijakan Otonomi Khusus Terhadap Peningkatan Indeks Pembangunan Manusia di Papua. Musamus Journal Of Public Administration. 2022, 5(1)
  17. Haryanto, H. (2016). Kebangkitan Party ID: Analisis Perilaku Memilih dalam Politik Lokal di Indonesia. Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Ilmu Politik, 17(3), 291. https://doi.org/10.22146/jsp.13082
  18. Henn, M., & Foard, N. (2014). Social differentiation in young people’s political participation: The impact of social and educational factors on youth political engagement in Britain. Journal of Youth Studies, 17(3), 360–380. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2013.830704
  19. Iqbal, Y. W., & Shabir, G. (2019). Influence of Interpersonal Communication Sources on Voting Behaviour of Youth. Global Social Sciences Review, IV(IV), 202–208. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2019(iv-iv).26
  20. Iqbal Y, W. (2017). The Influence of Interpersonal Communication, Traditional Media, and New Media Sources on Youth’s Voting Behavior; A Study of Pakistan General Election 2013 Campaign. Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism, 07(04). https://doi.org/10.4172/2165-7912.1000343
  21. Irawanto, B. (2019). Young and Faithless: Wooing Millennials in Indonesia’s 2019 Presidential Election. In Iseas Yusof Ishak Institute (Vol. 1, Issue 1)
  22. Jati, W. R. (2021). From Rational to Irrational Behaviour: The Shift in Indonesian Voting Behaviour After Reformasi Era. Politica, 12(2), 161–173. https://doi.org/10.22212/jp.v12i1.2319
  23. Jubba, H., Iribaram, S., Pabbajah, M., & Elizabeth, M. Z. (2019). Preferensi Pemilih Muslim Milenial pada Pemilihan Presiden-Wakil Presiden 2019. JSW (Jurnal Sosiologi Walisongo), 3(2), 163–178. https://doi.org/10.21580/jsw.2019.3.2.4526
  24. Juelich, C. L., & Coll, J. A. (2021). Ranked choice voting and youth voter turnout: The roles of campaign civility and candidate contact. Politics and Governance, 9(2), 319–331. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v9i2.3914
  25. Kashyap, A., & Jonjua, M. (2020). Social media-a new digital power to influence voters. International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research, 9(4), 693–699
  26. Lefaan, A., & Nugroho, H. (2012). Etnosentrisme Dan Politik Representasi di Era Otonomi Khusus Papua. Majalah Ilmiah Pembelajaran
  27. Medenica, V. E. (2018). Millennials and race in the 2016 election. Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, 3(1), 55–76. https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2017.33
  28. Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook
  29. Morissan. (2019). Political and Social Participation of Younger Generation as Social Media Users in Indonesia. The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 7(2), 270–277. https://doi.org/10.24940/theijhss/2019/v7/i2/HS1902-079
  30. Mujani, S. (2020). Religion and Voting Behavior Evidence from the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election. Al-Jami’ah, 58(2), 419–450. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.2020.582.419-450
  31. Munjani, S., Ambardhi, K., & Liddle, W. (2012). Kuasa Rakyat : Analisis Tentang Prilaku Pemilih Dalam Pemilihan Legislatif dan Presiden Pasca Orde Baru. Mizan Media Utama
  32. Nursal, A. (2004). Political marketing: strategi memenangkan pemilu : sebuah pendekatan baru kampanye pemilihan DPR, DPD, Presiden. Gramedia Pustaka Utama
  33. Ohme, J. (2019). When digital natives enter the electorate: Political social media use among first-time voters and its effects on campaign participation. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 16(2), 119–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2019.1613279
  34. Önder, M., & Karabulut, N. (2017). A Research About the Youngs’ Voting Behavior in Local Elections: The Case of 2009, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Election. Journal If Youth Researches, 5(12), 69–88
  35. Perdana, N. H. (2014). Political Marketing Partai Politik Baru Menuju Pemilu 2014 : Studi kasus Pemenangan Partai Nasdem. UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA
  36. Rahimallah, M. T. A., Adam, A. F., & Sudirman, F. A. (2019). Orientasi Politik Kelas Milenial Dalam Pemilihan Gubernur : Sebuah Catatan Survey. Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi & Sosial, 10(2), 71–83. https://doi.org/10.35724/jies.v10i2.2410
  37. Rif’an, F. A. (2020). Politik Identitas dan Perilaku Pemilih pada Pilpres 2019: Studi di Kota Palembang Sumatera Selatan. JPW (Jurnal Politik Walisongo), 2(2), 83–100. https://doi.org/10.21580/jpw.v2i2.8499
  38. Rifani, I., Lobja, X. E., & Ramadhan, M. I. (2024). The Dynamics of Local Politics and Preferences of Generation Z Students in the 2024 Presidential Election in North Sulawesi. 6(1), 89–121
  39. Roth, D. (2008). Studi Pemilu Empiris: Sumber, Teori – Teori, Instrumen dan Metode. Friedich-Naumann-Stufting Fur Die Freiheit
  40. RRI. (2024). Partisipasi Pemilih di Kabupaten Merauke Lampaui Target Nasional. 1–11
  41. Saabar, S. S. @. (2014). A Survey on Young Voters Trust towards the Campaign of Janji Ditepati before 13th General Election. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 155 (October), 442–447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.10.319
  42. Sah Allam, S. N., Hassan, M. S., Jamri, M. H., Abdul Rani, N. S., Ab Hadi, S. N. I., & Meerangani, K. A. (2022). New Young Voters’ Decision to Vote: Impact of Access, Analysis and Evaluate, Create and Act. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(4), 1567–1581. https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v12-i4/13080
  43. Said Ahmad, M. R., Arifin, Z., & Putra Agustang, A. D. M. (2024). Political Behavior of Beginner Voters in the 2020 Gowa District Regional Election in Paccinongang Village, Somba Opu District. KnE Social Sciences, 2024, 1039–1051. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v9i2.14920
  44. Sandi, J. R. A. (2021). Religion and Ethnicity Traps: Behind the Intention to Vote of Millennial Voters. Society, 9(2), 410–419. https://doi.org/10.33019/society.v9i2.344
  45. Saud, M., Ida, R., Abbas, A., Ashfaq, A., & Ahmad, A. R. (2020). The Social Media and Digitalization of Political Participation in Youths: An Indonesian Perspective. Society, 8(1), 83–93. https://doi.org/10.33019/society.v8i1.160
  46. Saud, M., & Margono, H. (2021). Indonesia’s rise in digital democracy and youth’s political participation. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 18(4), 443–454. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1900019
  47. Şener, T., Balku, Y., Alkan, Y. S., Doru, S., Okudan Dernek, K., & Zenginoğlu, S. (2023). The socio-psychological factors affecting the voting behaviour of the postgraduate politics students: a Q-methodology study. Frontiers in Psychology, 14 (December), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1218104
  48. Sitanggang, P. B., Ancok, D., Kuncoroyakti, Y. A., & Lubis, A. Y. (2024). The Relationship between Political Image and Voting Behavior in First-time Voters: Demographics of Generation Z Voters in the 2024 Election in Indonesia. International Journal of Social Science and Education Research Studies, 04 (06), 461–467. https://doi.org/10.55677/ijssers/v04i6y2024-01
  49. Sumaktoyo, N. G. (2021). Ethnic and Religious Sentiments in Indonesian Politics: Evidence From the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election. Journal of East Asian Studies, 21(1), 141–164. https://doi.org/10.1017/jea.2020.35
  50. Sumerta, I. K., Premananto, G. C., Samadara, P. D., Effasa, S., & Perbawa, N. I. (2024). Political Branding and the Gen Z Vote: A Phenomenological Study of Young Voters in Indonesia. Journal of Logistics, Informatics and Service Science, 11(6), 386–401. https://doi.org/10.33168/jliss.2024.0624
  51. Suryawan, I. N. (2016). Stop Kam Baku Tipu: Pemekaran Daerah, Isu Strategis Pengelolaan Konflik, Dan Transformasi Sosial Di Papua Barat. Masyarakat Indonesia, 40(2), 229–243. http://jmi.ipsk.lipi.go.id/index.php/jmiipsk/article/view/119
  52. Yuniarto, P. R. (2018). Strata Sosial Dan Partisipasi Masyarakat dalam Program Pembangunan Berbasis Komunitas. Jurnal Masyarakat & Budaya, 20(3), 313–328
  53. Yustiningrum, Emilia, R., Ichwanuddin, & Wawan. (2015). Partisipasi Politik dan Perilaku Memilih pada Pemilu 2014. Jurnal Penelitian Politik (LIPI), 12(1), 117–135

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update: 2026-02-28 22:34:37

No citation recorded.