Spatial Context and Media in Young Voter Behavior: Evidence fromthe 2023 General Elections

Abstract

This study investigates whether young voters’ electoral choices in Turkey’s 2023 general elections are associated with their news-following practices and spatial context. The analysis draws on survey data from respondents who reported voting in 2023 (N=380). The dependent variable is the likelihood of voting for the ruling bloc, while the key independent variable is a set of news-source groups based on respondents’ primary channel for following the agenda. Age, gender, employment status, and frequency of news consumption are included as controls. In the baseline model, spatial context is operationalized through mobility direction, the direction of movement from place of birth to current place of residence, but this measure does not exhibit a statistically significant association with voting for the ruling bloc. By contrast, binary logistic regression results indicate that news-source groups significantly predict ruling-bloc support. Compared with the traditional media group (TV/newspapers), a digital-media-oriented group (social media and YouTube/podcasts) is associated with substantially lower odds of voting for the ruling bloc (OR≈0.39, ~61% lower odds). In a robustness specification that replaces mobility direction with current residence type, the association remains and becomes stronger (OR≈0.30, ~70% lower odds). Cook’s distance diagnostics suggest that these results are not driven by a small number of influential cases. Overall, the findings underscore the role of media-sources-based differentiation in young voter behavior and strengthen confidence in this relationship by demonstrating robustness to alternative spatial controls.