KHON KAEN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND POLITICAL AWARENESS

Abstract

            Political Awareness is an important factor for young people regarded as the future of the nation. This research was aimed to 1) study the political awareness of Khon Kaen University (KKU) students towards the general election held on 24 March 2019 and 2) investigate the political attitudes of KKU students towards the election. The sample group used in this study was 600 youths. The purposive sampling was applied, and questionnaires were used as the research method. Statistical tools were used to analyze data including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

            The finding shows that institutes of political socialization affect the political awareness at a moderate level ( = 2.12, SD = 0.28). Political culture is at a moderate level ( = 2.3, SD = 0.31). 99.77 percent of KKU students has political understanding well, but they have little knowledge and interest in politics. The level of political participation of KKU students is at a moderate level (  = 1.55, SD = 0.42). Facebook is the mostly social network that KKU students use to receive political news, the overall level of political awareness of KKU students is at a moderate level, resulting from being banned to talk about politics in the past.     

            About attitudes towards the 2019 Thai general election, 97.33 percentages of KKU students will go out for voting. The main reason to vote is a policy. In the future, Thailand has the tendency to have the coup. Most of the KKU students will vote for the Future Forward Party.