'Intimidation not Frustration': explaining why young voters go missing on polling day (original) (raw)
Related papers
The democracy challenge: young people and voter registration
Concept, 2000
In May 2009 at the height of the MP's expenses row, the Prime Minister (Brown 2009) talked about the need for major constitutional reform‟ which included the case for votes at 16‟. In March 2009 one of his cabinet colleagues, Ed Miliband, (Scottish Labour 2009) went ...
Compulsory voting may reinforce the resentment young people feel toward the political class
2014
With young people much less likely to vote than older generations, it has been proposed the UK follow other countries such as Belgium and Australia by introducing compulsory voting, with IPPR suggesting only first-time voters should be forced to participate. Matt Henn and Nick Foard consider the merits of this proposal using data from a recent survey of voting intentions, concluding it would risk increasing the disconnect between young people and democracy. This post is part of our series on youth participation. With young people unenthusiastic or resentful about politics, is compulsory voting the answer? Credit: Sueno, CC BY 2.0
Journal of Social Studies Education Research , 2021
This study is aimed at discovering possible reasons for young people's refusal to participate in elections in Russia and studying the attitudes of young people toward increasing voter turnout via electronic voting, postal voting, and three-day voting. The authors conducted a sociological survey of young people aged 18 to 29, mostly from the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation, relying on a non-institutional approach and rational choice. The research results showed that E-voting is more convenient for citizens with health problems, busy people, and those who do not have free time. Voting by mail can ensure that voting is accessible to all. The most important requirement for elections in the event of multi-day voting is legitimacy and recognition of the results by all political forces and society. Thus, voter turnout among young people might be increased via E-voting, postal voting, and three-day voting.
Young people and voting behaviour: alienated youth and (or) an interested and critical citizenry?
European Journal of Marketing, 2010
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trust, cynicism and efficacy on young peoples' (non)voting behaviour during the 2005 British general election.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were gathered from 1,134 interviewer‐administered questionnaires with young first‐time voters during the three‐week period following the British general election in May 2005. Validated attitudes statements were used to measure their levels of trust, cynicism and efficacy.FindingsThe research shows that young people are generally distrusting of and very cynical about politicians and the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) Thus, in part, the data support the existing evidence that cynicism contributes to feelings of political alienation. However, the paper's findings also indicate that while young people can be highly distrusting and cynical, they can also be interested in the election and vote.Research limitations/implicationsCurrent, negative evaluations of young people and el...
Mobilising the Youth Vote: The Future of British Democracy
newcastle.edu.au
Despite the slight increase recorded at the 2005 poll, turnout at British national elections continues to be low. The slight rise in turnout was driven by the increased voting participation of baby boomers whereas the youth vote dipped well below the fifty percent mark. This is worrying, not only because youth is a surrogate for other forms of social and economic exclusion, but also because it augurs ill for the future of British democracy. Although the low voting turnout of the young was once dismissed as merely a life-cycle phenomenon, this no longer appears to be true with the early low participation habits of young people apparently becoming entrenched over time. In Britain a number of reforms have been instituted to stem the tide of electoral demobilisation but none have been particularly successful. Since such piecemeal reforms seem unable to solve the problem, we recommend compulsory voting as the most reliable means of raising voting participation. And, as we show, compulsory voting has a good chance of being adopted in Britain due to its growing popularity with both policy makers and the public.
Learning (Not) to Vote: the Generational Basis of Turnout Decline in Established Democracies
Using survey data from all six countries where elections have been studied continuously since the 1960s, we examine the role of generational replacement in turnout change. Early electoral experiences leave an imprint on citizens who generally continue to vote or not vote just as they generally continue to support the same political party (or no party). Based on this insight we propose a partial explanation for declining turnout in countries which, in the 1960s and 70s, lowered the age at which citizens could vote. The lower voting age allowed unmotivated individuals to become socialized into non-voting behavior with unfortunate consequences for turnout in many countries. Continuing turnout decline since the early 1970s reflects at least in part the normal mechanism of generational replacement as voters leave the electorate whose early electoral experiences were more positive. The findings have far-reaching implications for our understanding of the mainsprings of electoral change.
Comparing Youth Opinions Toward Compulsory Voting Across Five Countries
2014
This study uses a comparative case study design to examine youth (ages 13-20) opinions toward compulsory voting across five democratic countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. Youth responses to questionnaire items concerning compulsory voting were coded and analyzed with the guidance of a political socialization conceptual framework. Youth responses toward compulsory voting demonstrate how youth come to learn about citizen rights and responsibilities with varied understandings of what it means to participate in a democracy. Five themes represent the most notable variations of reasons given by youth to support and oppose compulsory voting: rights and duties, corruption, inclusion of minorities, informed citizenry, and strong democracy. Further, the majority of students gave at least one reason for and against compulsory voting demonstrating students’ ability of perspective-taking, to give reasons for the perspective with which they disagree. This study prov...
Young people and political (in)activism: why don't young people vote?
2006
Continued experimentation with methods to make the process of voting easier signals a growing concern among politicians that the public is becoming increasingly disaffected from politics in Britain. However, these government initiatives may be failing to tackle the real problem - that the electorate appears to find the business of politics uninviting and irrelevant. In this article we examine the results from a nationwide survey of over 700 young people, and find that this generation, while supportive of these new electoral methods, are unlikely to be persuaded to turn out to vote while they continue to feel marginalised from the political process.
Youth political participation in Europe: a cross national analysis
2017
Youth political disengagement continues to be a major issue facing contemporary democracies that needs to be better understood. The traditional conception of participation in politics became outdated and new questions should be explored. While, most scholars have analysed the issue of political engagement among young people in a single country only, this paper adds contribution to a comparative research on young people’s engagement in politics. In this paper, I outline an empirical analysis relating to the understanding of youth participation across Europe. I analyse the socio-demographic and contextual predictors of formal and informal political participation among young people using survey analysis across 28 European countries. I argue that socio-demographic factors and contextual factors are crucial predictors when it comes to formal and informal political participation among young people in Europe with variations across democracies. The results indicate that while age, social an...
Cajoling or coercing: would electoral engineering resolve the young citizen–state disconnect?
Journal of Youth Studies, 2016
The relationships between citizens and their states are undergoing significant stresses across advanced liberal democracies. In Britain, this disconnect is particularly evident amongst young citizens. This article considers whether different electoral engineering methodsdesigned either to cajole or compel youth to votemight arrest the decline in their political engagement. Data collected in 2011 from a national survey of 1025 British 18-yearolds and from focus groups involving 86 young people reveal that many young people claim that they would be more likely to vote in future elections if such electoral reforms were implemented. However, it is questionable whether or not such increased electoral participation would mean that they would feel truly connected to the democratic process. In particular, forcing young people to vote through the introduction of compulsory voting may actually serve to reinforce deepening resentments, rather than engage them in a positive manner.