Data Science Approaches to Analyzing Aesthetic Strategies in Contemporary Presidential Campaigns

Abstract

In today’s digital political landscape, social media platforms play a critical role in shaping voter engagement, especially among youth. This study investigates how aesthetic political strategies were applied in Prabowo Subianto’s 2024 presidential campaign on TikTok and Instagram. It focuses on decoding voter sentiment, optimizing content delivery, and identifying visual elements that resonate with the public. Using machine learning models tailored to various data types, the research analyses over 50,000 comments and 30 million engagements. A BERT-based sentiment analysis model achieved 88% accuracy, revealing 60% positive, 25% neutral, and 15% negative sentiment, reflecting broad public approval. Meanwhile, a Gradient Boosting engagement prediction model reached 85% accuracy in forecasting post performance based on content format, timing, and hashtag use. Posts with videos and trending hashtags had a 78% chance of high engagement, while static images without hashtags scored only 45%. Evening posts performed best, with a 25% higher likelihood of engagement. The findings highlight the value of AI-driven insights in political communication, emphasizing that emotionally and visually rich content—particularly patriotic and relatable themes—enhances audience connection. This study offers a practical framework for political actors to develop adaptive, data-informed strategies that align with voter preferences in an increasingly fragmented and fast-paced digital media environment.