Political Communication and Post-Election Public Opinion Formation in Pakistan: Effect of PTI Government’s Policies on Youth Voters

Abstract

The objective of this study was to observe the effect of Pakistan Tahreek-i- Insaaf (PTI) government‟s policies on its voters almost two years after General Elections 2018. Data was collected from PTI‟s youth voters of Lahore through survey (n=422) using the instrument of questionnaire comprised of 12 item. While for the qualitative part of the study Z test was applied. The study results predicted that the vote bank of PTI gradually decreased from timeline 2018 to 2020 as the the proportion of PTI voters has declined from 0.83 per cent to 0.67 per cent respectively. However, regarding overall policies of the PTI government, party voters gauged PTI policies as „normal‟ and they wanted to give time to the regime expecting better output. The government‟s monetary and exchange rate policy has been seen as the worst part of the party performance so far by the voters while tax reforms, accountability and foreign policy on Iran and Kashmir have been termed as „excellent‟.