Young Voters

Abstract

The non-participatory and participatory aspects of the electoral behaviour of young British people have attracted considerable attention. The discussion of young citizens in elections has mostly focused on their chronically low levels of mobilisation. However, in the context of the General Election 2017, young people were under the spotlight for different reasons, including the party preference gap between young and other voters. Differences in youth voting compared to older voters were also evident in the 2016 Brexit Referendum. The Scottish Independence Referendum of 2014 brought new salience to the debate on giving 16 year olds the right to vote—they were allowed to in the UK for the first time —as most exercised their newly-awarded franchise in that campaign and many appeared to be politically engaged. The estimated turnout of 75% for 16 and 17 year olds compared to 54% of 18-24 year olds. It was unsurprising that, in the weeks leading up to the unanticipated General Election of 2017, the intentions and expected turnout of young people were closely scrutinised. Indeed, discrepancies between pollsters’ forecasts were even largely attributed to the question of whether young people would vote in as high numbers as they were promising.