Though the general elections are still two and a half years away, political parties must step up their game to anticipate the increasing number of millennial voters.
By
KOMPAS EDITOR
·3 minutes read
Cheryl Cran, a leadership and generation expert, in her book “101 Ways to Make Generation X, Y, and Zoomers Happy at Work” emphasized that there were two things that Generation Y, also referred to as the millennials, was unable to accept: insincerity and empty promises.
Trend observers also say that millennials are more critical and open because they have been exposed to technological platforms for connecting with others since birth. Millennials have also grown up in multicultural classrooms, schools that encourage cultivate creativity and are often taught to speak up by their parents.
Gen Y is the generation born between 1981 and 1994. Its members are currently 27 to 40 years old, and by the time the 2024 general elections roll around, they will be 30 to 43 years old.
Below Gen Y is Gen Z, those born between 1995 and 2010. They are currently 11 to 26 years old. Come the 2024 elections, members of Gen Z will make up the country’s youngest voters as the generation will aged between 14 and 29 years.
These two generations will shift the roles of the previous generation, namely the Baby Boomers (1946-1960) and Gen X (1961-1980).
Based on the results of the 2020 Population Census, 22.3 million people are aged 15-19 years; 22.6 million people are aged 20-24 years; 22.3 million people are aged 25-29 years; 21.9 million people are aged 30-34 years; and 20.9 million people are aged 35-39 years. In total, these make up 110 million people, which is about 40 percent of the total population.
Of the total number of votes in the election, the percentage of Gen Y and Z will be even higher. Based on permanent voter data in the 2019 elections, voters aged 30 years and below reached 60.3 million people, or 31.7 percent of the total voters. In the 2024 elections, millennial and Gen Z voters are expected to increase by 60 percent.
Will political parties be able to raise issues that interest Gen Y and Gen Z? Parties will have to focus on issues concerning clean democracy, the country’s deteriorating efforts in corruption eradication, environmentally friendly development and providing job opportunities for young people in the digital era. However, because these generations are used to paying attention to details and being critical, mere promises will not satisfy them.
The Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) survey in October 2021 showed that 39.3 percent of respondents from Gen Y had not chosen a political party. Gen Z respondents who had not made a choice were even greater, at 48.1 percent.
These circumstances will challenge political parties to improve. What’s more is that neither Gen Y or Gen Z is fixated on brand or workplace loyalty. They are very dynamic. Political parties that only sell a certain image but do not reflect concrete and solution-based work will surely be abandoned by millennials and forgotten during the 2024 general elections.