POLITICAL PERSONALIZATION AND POLARIZATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE "GEMOY" TREND ON ELECTABILITY AMONG GEN Z IN THE 2024 ELECTION

Abstract

Social media, as part of the digital space, has played a significant role in shaping political preferences and participation, particularly among Generation Z, a demographic group highly active on various digital platforms. One phenomenon that has attracted public attention in the 2024 Election is the use of the Political Personalization strategy through the "Gemoy" trend that has become associated with Prabowo Subianto's image. This essay aims to examine how this strategy can influence Generation Z's political preferences and how it impacts the polarization that occurs on social media. Using qualitative methods with a phenomenological approach, this essay demonstrates the effectiveness of political personalization in building candidate electability. The results of this essay show that the digital-based campaign carried out by Prabowo Subianto in the 2024 election using the tagline "Gemoy" succeeded in attracting public attention, especially among Generation Z. The tagline "Gemoy'' massively succeeded in creating emotional closeness between candidates and young voters through light, humorous, and easily shared content. However, this can exacerbate political polarization due to echo chambers and filter bubbles on social media. Therefore, it is necessary to increase digital and political literacy, especially among Generation Z, so that they can control the direction of political information wisely and well, so that they can create a more critical, rational, and inclusive democratic space in the digital era.