Cynicism towards politicians and political parties has grown steadily in the past 30 years. In 1986, only one in ten Britons said they ‘almost never’ trust governments to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own party: in 2012 that had risen to one in three. Voting turnout has declined by an average of 10 per cent since 1970. In 1987, 76 per cent Britons believed voting was everyone’s duty; by 2011, this had fallen to 62 per cent.
Younger voters appear even less inclined to vote and to engage in politics compared to previous generations. According to the most recent British Social Attitudes Survey, they are less inclined to feel that voting is a civic duty, to identify with a political party and to say they are interested in politics. Hansard’s most recent Audit of Political Engagement showed that only 12 per cent of 18-24 year olds said that they were absolutely certain to vote if an election was held immediately.
Some commentators have cited these statistics to argue that younger generations are selfish and apathetic towards politics. Recent Demos research found that this interpretation is incorrect. Many young people are highly engaged and motivated to tackle social issues that concern them, but they are increasingly turning to other means and actors to have a positive impact.
This project, which is supported by vInspired and builds on previous Demos work, will aim to pinpoint the key political and social issues that young people care about ahead of the 2015 General Election. Demos will design, analyse and present the findings from a quantitative survey of 18 to 25 year olds. The polling will be supported by focus groups and interviews with young people to garner their views on mainstream politics as well as social media analysis from Demos’s Centre for the Analysis of Social Media as voting day approaches to capture and analyse millions of conversations on Twitter about certain key topics.
The research will aim to shed light on:
- Key social issues for young people
- How it will affect the party they choose to vote for
- Key issues in relation to voter mobilisation
- Attitudes towards voting
- Attitudes towards the role of politicians & government
- Attitudes towards the need for negotiation and compromise in politics
This project is supported by vInspired.
For more information or to get involved please contact jonathan.birdwell@demos.co.uk.
