Valet inför valet : En studie om hur svenska förstagångsväljare väljer att ta del av politisk information

Problem statement and purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze in what way first-time voters chose to take part of political information. The questions we aimed to answer was how first-time voters use media and other information channels for political purposes, what importance and trust the first-time voters give the different information channels and finally which indicators there is for that structural or individual factors affect the media consumption and political interest. Method and material: We did interviews with twelve 18 years old first-time voters from six different high school programs in Sundsvall, Sweden. Results: The study showed that the premier source of political information were traditional news media, in particular the debates on TV. It’s also in the debates the first-time voter’s trust the most. Even though the social medias are constantly present in their everyday life and even though the first-time voters believe the social medias have potential for engaging young people politically, the possibilities are only taken in advantage by people who are already politically interested. The first-time voters are being affected by both structural and individualized factors. The structural, the social standing in particular, matters for the individual’s political interest and use of traditional media, while the individualized factors primarily matters for the use of social medias