Young voters and voting from primary and secondary socialization of political values. A Colombian local study

Abstract

This paper presents the first results of a research study focused on the electoral knowl- edge of young voters in Bucaramanga (Santander-Colombia). This qualitative enquire into is exploratory and descriptive, and aims to identify the political values that are present in the subject when voting. The quantitative results from a survey applied randomly to 423 voters aged between 21 and 26 years indicate that 42% of people voted in the 2011 elections motivated by the candidate’s proposal, 26% influence by family and 8% by media. In addition to this, 39% of respondents say that they do not identify themselves with any ideological leaning, whereas 61% categorize themselves in one of the seven options presented in the survey. This decision coincided with the question of the ideological leaning of the family’s respondent: 26% answered not to have any, 84% answered positively. Data show the socio-psychological and psycho-political perspectives; the latter from the family’s socialization of political values given that 74% of respondents affirm that they talked to their families about political activity at some point during the week, 46% talk occasionally and 9% once a month. The study suggests to validate and analyze some data obtained in the second stage of the research, which centers its collecting information methods in focal groups and interviews.