KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Politweet, a research firm analysing interactions among Malaysians using social media, today revealed that interest in politics is lowest among Facebook users in Malaysia aged 18 to 20 when compared with older age groups.
In a posting on Twitter, it said that only 10.37 per cent of Facebook users aged 18 to 20 have an interest in politics, which was highest in the 41 to 50 age group of Facebook users at 44.59 per cent.
“Statistics were collected from Facebook Ads Manager on September 6,” it said.
“Interest in politics is based on Facebook’s internal classification of what ‘interest in politics’ means under Detailed Targeting settings,” it explained.
The age group with the second lowest interest in politics was Facebook users aged 21 to 30 at 28.50 per cent.
Facebook users aged 31 to 40 showed the second highest interest in politics at 44.53 per cent, while it was 43.57 per cent in those aged 51 to 60 and 42.75 per cent for those aged 61 and above.
However, those between 18 and 21 are now widely viewed as kingmakers because they make up 40 per cent of the 5.8 million new voters added to the electoral roll for the 15th general election (GE15) after Parliament passed Undi18 and automatic voter registration last December.
In May, a survey conducted by youth group Architects of Diversity (AOD), in collaboration with UndiI18 and Undi Negaraku, showed that eight in 10 Malaysia youths said they intend to vote in GE15.
However, 41 per cent of the respondents have not made up their minds on which political party to choose on their ballots.
The survey showed that there is a tight competition among political parties or coalitions for youth, with support for Barisan Nasional (BN) the highest, at 15.5 per cent, followed by Perikatan Nasional (PN), at 13.8 per cent, Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) at 11.9 per cent and Pakatan Harapan, at 10.5 per cent.
