Abstract:
This Research aims to answer two questions; First, question is there any differences in the perspectives towards the Democratic Partys decision to boycott the February 2, 2014 General Election between the elderly voters and young voters in Songkla province? Second, what are factors contribute to the differences or similarities between the two mentioned voters groups? The research methods employed in this study is in document analysis and field research, namely questionnaire and in-depth interview. The field research was conducted in two constituencies in Songkhla Province; the urban area constituency 3 and the rural area constituency 7, with the total of 400 voters completed the questionnaires and 21 joined the interview sessions. The research results showed that elderly voters, and young voters shared the similar views toward the Democratic Partys decision to boycott the February 2, 2014 general election. However, the factors contribute to the two generations are different. However, the study revealed that there was a significant difference between the rural voters who tended to grant higher support to the Democratic Party than the urban voters in elderly voters and young voters the urban voters who tended to grant higher support to the Democratic Party than the rural voters. The older voters agreed with the Democratic Partys decision because they thought the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) and the Democratic Party are the same groups. Thus, the older voters who primarily supported the PDRC, support the Democratic Party as well. The factor that plays an important role to the older voters perspective is information they got from Blue Sky television channel. In other words, the voters have been politically socialized by the PDRC via Blue Sky channel. With regard to the factor contributed to the new generation voters viewpoint in agreeing with the Democratic Party to boycott the elections was based not on an influenced by family members as previously thought. The new generation of voters have been politically socialized via variety sources of social media and online media that supported the Democratic Partys decision. That is the political standpoint they prefer.