Politeness Strategies in Online Political Communication: Shaping Public Opinion during Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51278/aj.v8i3.2322Keywords:
Politeness Strategies, Online Political Communication, Digital Pragmatics, Public Opinion, Presidential ElectionAbstract
This study investigates the realization, functions, and persuasive effects of politeness strategies in online political communication during Indonesia’s 2024 presidential election. Employing a qualitative critical discourse approach, the research analyzes political interactions collected from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Ticktock throughout the official campaign period. Data were purposively selected and analyzed using Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory integrated with digital political communication and public opinion frameworks. The findings reveal that positive politeness emerged as the dominant strategy for fostering solidarity, reinforcing collective identity, and strengthening emotional engagement with audiences, while negative politeness was strategically employed to maintain credibility, minimize face-threatening acts, and negotiate ideological differences. In contrast, bald-on-record and off-record strategies were selectively utilized to intensify political messages, challenge opponents, and stimulate public engagement, often generating polarized responses. These linguistic strategies significantly influenced audience perceptions by enhancing message credibility, emotional resonance, trust, and political participation, while simultaneously amplifying ideological polarization through algorithm-driven interactions. This study extends classical politeness theory by demonstrating that politeness in digital political communication functions as a dynamic persuasive resource that interacts with platform affordances, algorithmic visibility, and participatory culture. The findings contribute to the advancement of digital pragmatics and political communication studies while offering practical insights for developing ethical political communication strategies that promote constructive democratic deliberation in contemporary digital societies.
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