A few weeks ago a friend told me that in the last general election, there were fewer young voters (under 25) than there were older (over 75) non-voters. That seemed like a lot of rubbish at the time, but after watching the Leader’s Debate I felt less willing to vote than ever before.
I had joined the disillusioned, maybe there was some truth to this statement. I felt that all of the parties had nothing to offer young people, or in other words future voters and future leaders. British Future think tank predicts that only 41% of 18-25 year olds will vote in the upcoming election compared to the national average turnout of over 50%. What if more young people voted? How would this affect the outcome? And how would it affect the attitudes of the parties towards young people?
This country, we ought to remember, has an aging population. The number of registered voters between the ages of 18-25 has been decreasing gradually from the 1970s, despite the increased turnout in 2010. Whereas people over 75 are much more likely to vote, which is sometimes referred to as the ‘grey vote’. It seems unsurprising in this light why parties seem so generally uninterested in attracting young voters. Does our vote really matter that much? Or does just it not matter much to them? Because we often choose not to vote.
There will be more than 3.3 million new voters for this election, that’s quite a few, and according to news sources “you’re up for grabs”. Like a free iPod, you’re a prizes to be won. This seems contradictory when parties seem to offer so little to to young people. Well, it depends who you all intend to vote for. This year it seems the party of the under 25s is the Green Party. Over 16,000 members of the party are under 30, which is just over a quarter of its members. Perhaps this is because they offer an alternative to the parties that made us pay £9000 a year for our degree. The Greens also pledge to take seriously the issues that concern young people. Issues like education, the NHS, employment, social justice and climate change.
However according to British Future over 40% of these ‘certain’ young voters will vote Labour. This we can put down to two factors. The Labour party has begun addressing young people specifically: Ed Miliband has been campaigning, not for just young peoples votes, but just to encourage us to register. The second factor is Labour policies which appeal to young people, for example the pledge to end zero-hours contracts, the introduction of fairer renting policies and changes to the NHS.
In the last year, younger supporters for UKIP have doubled in number, meaning that the party is currently polling higher than the Greens and Lib Dems (no surprises there Mr. Clegg) for under 25s. But this number throws doubt on the commonly held view that UKIP have nothing to offer young people and that they are reliant on the aforementioned ‘grey’ vote. When we consider the common concerns for younger people; housing, jobs and the NHS for example, their perspective and policies offer an alternative. Unfortunately this alternative, it is apparent, is using immigrants as scapegoats. Immigrants who are much better for the economy and society than Nigel Farage and his cronies are willing to admit. Your votes are valuable to the young party and they know it.
Because of our anachronistic first-past-the-post voting system, people don’t necessarily vote for the party of their choice, and often end up voting tactically. It often depends on the seats. There are quite a few seats in the country where attracting the younger vote will be crucial to deciding the winners. Younger voters can sway around 35 seats in the UK! Over half of those seats were highly contested marginal seats in the last election. Sheffield Central, for example, has more than 35% registered voters under the age of 25, as well as being a marginal seat between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Your vote matters much more here.
It’s also interesting to note that a lot of the voters in Sheffield Hallam, Nick Clegg’s constituency, are students or graduates. Many of whom have not taken kindly to the rise in tuition fees. It is currently predicted that he will lose his seat in the upcoming election, I have a feeling that those two facts might be related… If they are (and you know they are) then parties should be wary of the power the young people.
Then we ought consider the Conservative party. Your votes are highly valuable to them, but not in the way you might think. You probably get the feeling that the Conservatives offer little to young people, that their policies over the past five years have hurt young people. If the majority of younger voters favour Greens and Labour then your votes are incredibly valuable, but only if you don’t use them.
After all this, I feel that the most important difference young votes can have is the attitude towards young people in society. If 41% is going to be the turn out all it shows the media, to the world and to our countries future leaders is that we either don’t care or we just lack enough sense to understand politics. If more and more young people choose not to vote, the political parties will have no reason to represent us. Every vote matters. Your vote matters. But only if you use it.
Reuters
General Election: What difference can young people make? | The Rabbit Newspaper
A few weeks ago a friend told me that in the last general election, there were fewer young voters (under 25) than there were older (over 75) non-voters. That seemed like a lot of rubbish at the time, but after watching the Leader’s Debate I felt less willing to vote than ever before.
I had joined the disillusioned, maybe there was some truth to this statement. I felt that all of the parties had nothing to offer young people, or in other words future voters and future leaders. British Future think tank predicts that only 41% of 18-25 year olds will vote in the upcoming election compared to the national average turnout of over 50%. What if more young people voted? How would this affect the outcome? And how would it affect the attitudes of the parties towards young people?
This country, we ought to remember, has an aging population. The number of registered voters between the ages of 18-25 has been decreasing gradually from the 1970s, despite the increased turnout in 2010. Whereas people over 75 are much more likely to vote, which is sometimes referred to as the ‘grey vote’. It seems unsurprising in this light why parties seem so generally uninterested in attracting young voters. Does our vote really matter that much? Or does just it not matter much to them? Because we often choose not to vote.
There will be more than 3.3 million new voters for this election, that’s quite a few, and according to news sources “you’re up for grabs”. Like a free iPod, you’re a prizes to be won. This seems contradictory when parties seem to offer so little to to young people. Well, it depends who you all intend to vote for. This year it seems the party of the under 25s is the Green Party. Over 16,000 members of the party are under 30, which is just over a quarter of its members. Perhaps this is because they offer an alternative to the parties that made us pay £9000 a year for our degree. The Greens also pledge to take seriously the issues that concern young people. Issues like education, the NHS, employment, social justice and climate change.
However according to British Future over 40% of these ‘certain’ young voters will vote Labour. This we can put down to two factors. The Labour party has begun addressing young people specifically: Ed Miliband has been campaigning, not for just young peoples votes, but just to encourage us to register. The second factor is Labour policies which appeal to young people, for example the pledge to end zero-hours contracts, the introduction of fairer renting policies and changes to the NHS.
In the last year, younger supporters for UKIP have doubled in number, meaning that the party is currently polling higher than the Greens and Lib Dems (no surprises there Mr. Clegg) for under 25s. But this number throws doubt on the commonly held view that UKIP have nothing to offer young people and that they are reliant on the aforementioned ‘grey’ vote. When we consider the common concerns for younger people; housing, jobs and the NHS for example, their perspective and policies offer an alternative. Unfortunately this alternative, it is apparent, is using immigrants as scapegoats. Immigrants who are much better for the economy and society than Nigel Farage and his cronies are willing to admit. Your votes are valuable to the young party and they know it.
Because of our anachronistic first-past-the-post voting system, people don’t necessarily vote for the party of their choice, and often end up voting tactically. It often depends on the seats. There are quite a few seats in the country where attracting the younger vote will be crucial to deciding the winners. Younger voters can sway around 35 seats in the UK! Over half of those seats were highly contested marginal seats in the last election. Sheffield Central, for example, has more than 35% registered voters under the age of 25, as well as being a marginal seat between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Your vote matters much more here.
It’s also interesting to note that a lot of the voters in Sheffield Hallam, Nick Clegg’s constituency, are students or graduates. Many of whom have not taken kindly to the rise in tuition fees. It is currently predicted that he will lose his seat in the upcoming election, I have a feeling that those two facts might be related… If they are (and you know they are) then parties should be wary of the power the young people.
Then we ought consider the Conservative party. Your votes are highly valuable to them, but not in the way you might think. You probably get the feeling that the Conservatives offer little to young people, that their policies over the past five years have hurt young people. If the majority of younger voters favour Greens and Labour then your votes are incredibly valuable, but only if you don’t use them.
After all this, I feel that the most important difference young votes can have is the attitude towards young people in society. If 41% is going to be the turn out all it shows the media, to the world and to our countries future leaders is that we either don’t care or we just lack enough sense to understand politics. If more and more young people choose not to vote, the political parties will have no reason to represent us. Every vote matters. Your vote matters. But only if you use it.
Reuters