TikTok may win attention, but ground game wins Johor vote

JOHOR BAHRU - Political parties may have captured attention through TikTok and social media campaigns, but strong grassroots machinery will remain crucial in converting public sentiment into votes in the Johor election.

Political analyst Anis Anwar Suhaimi said digital platforms had become essential tools for shaping voter perception, but elections were ultimately won through trust, mobilisation and the ability to bring supporters to the ballot box.

Anis said social media had transformed campaign communication by allowing parties to deliver messages, attack lines and emotional narratives directly to voters.

However, he cautioned that online popularity should not be mistaken for actual electoral support.

“A party may dominate online discussion but still fail to convert that attention into votes if its message does not match voter concerns or if its ground machinery is weak,” he said.

He said TikTok was particularly effective in reaching younger voters, working-class voters with limited time to attend physical events and outstation voters following the election from outside their constituencies.

“TikTok is powerful because it compresses politics into emotion, personality and simple messaging. In that sense, TikTok can sometimes have wider reach than a physical ceramah,” he said.

Despite the growing influence of digital campaigning, Anis said traditional methods such as walkabouts, house visits and local engagement remained important, especially among older voters and communities that placed value on personal relationships.

“Elections are not won only through attention; they are won through trust, turnout and local mobilisation,” he said.

Anis said different coalitions had used digital platforms for different purposes, with BN focusing on its narrative of stability, performance and continuity, while PH used social media to challenge the incumbent.

Bersama, he said, appeared to be using digital platforms to appeal to dissatisfied voters from different political backgrounds by presenting itself as a choice.

“The question is whether online dominance translates into actual support. It can, but only when the online message is credible, repeated on the ground and aligned with voter experience,” he said.

Anis added that social media could either strengthen or damage a campaign depending on how voters received the message.

“If a campaign is seen as too aggressive, too personal or disconnected from local sentiment, it can push voters away instead of pulling them in,” he said.

He stressed that the most effective strategy was not choosing between digital and traditional campaigning, but combining both.

“Social media shapes perception and mood; grassroots machinery converts that mood into turnout and votes,” he said.