Youth Vote Research Articles

Political view of youth voters in surabaya

In the study of political socialization, youth voters are one of the targets of political parties in obtaining constituents. This article will reveal the views of youth voters in interpreting politics. Youth voters who are the subject of the study are college students in the first year. In general, they have different social life backgrounds but are in the same environment, the life of urban people, where their involvement with information technology is high. Political knowledge of youth voters is widely gained through mass media, where information is produced based on market needs. It encourages inconsistency in the direction of thinking that develops by voters. On the one hand, politics is seen as an activity based on ideal democratic values, but on the other hand politics is also seen as a practice that focuses on winning the battle of interests. This suggests that the youth voter political views are oriented toward superficial knowledge directed more by the mass media, not from experience gained through the process of political socialization.

What does youth-led participatory budgeting reveal about youth priorities? Ideas, votes, and decisions

ABSTRACTYouth involvement in community decision-making is considered a core principle of both youth advocacy and progressive governance. Yet, in many communities formal roles for youth remain limited. This paper presents data from a youth-led participatory budgeting process in Boston, Massachusetts (US). The City of Boston has institutionalized a formal process through which numerous youth can contribute ideas and vote on capital projects to receive city funding. A smaller group of youth are engaged in even greater depth. They are trained and work to facilitate submission of ideas, turn ideas into proposals, and encourage youth voting. We use data to identify concerns expressed by youth, their ideas for solutions, and the movement from ideas to funded projects. Implications for further development of participatory budgeting as a mechanism for youth civic engagement are discussed.

Youth Enfranchisement, Political Responsiveness, and Education Expenditure: Evidence from the US

We examine the link between the political participation of the young and fiscal policies in the United States. We generate exogenous variation in participation using the passage of preregistration laws, which allow the young to register before being eligible to vote. After documenting that preregistration promotes youth enfranchisement, we show that preregistration shifts state government spending toward higher education, the type of spending for which the young have the strongest preference. A 1 percent increase in youth voter turnout generates a 0.77 percent increase in higher education spending. The results collectively suggest political responsiveness to the needs of the newly enfranchised constituency. (JEL D72, E62, H52, H75, I23, I28, J13)

Violence and youth voter turnout in sub-saharan Africa

ABSTRACTDespite the growing literature on political violence in sub-Saharan Africa, there is, surprisingly, a limited number of studies exploring its relationship with voter turnout, and specifically youth turnout, in the region. Africa is a relatively young continent, and the majority of its population is youth, positioning them as an important voting group. However, recent studies have suggested a shift in youth interest from voting to other forms of political participation such as protest. This paper explores the relationship between violence and youth voter turnout in sub-Saharan Africa. Using cross-sectional nationally representative data from the Afrobarometer public attitude survey from 20 countries, a correlation analysis is carried out to explore the relationship between fear of violence and turnout (voted in the last elections) among youth. The analysis shows a negative relationship between violence and voting among youth. Analyses controlling for employment, education and party affiliation also show that none of these had an effect on the strength and direction of the relationship. This suggests that violence could be a factor in explaining youth voter turnout in sub-Saharan Africa.

Home and School Environmental Influences on Adolescents’ Sociopolitical Group Participation: Implications for Increasing Youth Involvement

The potential benefits associated with sociopolitical group involvement for participating youth have been well documented in the existing literature. Yet, little is known about what motivates voluntary participation in such programs among youth. The purpose of this study is to explore what environmental factors influence youth civic engagement through participation in sociopolitical groups (e.g., service-learning or community service programs). To do this, several independent variables captured in The Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge Youth Post Election Survey 2012 dataset and the respondents’ reported participation in social or political groups while in high school were observed. Binary and ordinal logistic regression modeling were used to analyze the data. The results indicate that several factors in the home and school environment are related to an increased probability of youth joining a sociopolitical group at school, away from school, or both. These findings suggest that the messages crafted to encourage youth participation in sociopolitical groups should account for the demographic (i.e., racial, gender, and cultural) and experiential (i.e., civics education quality) differences present within the target population.

Was it really ‘the young wot won it’?

Did the 2017 election really reflect a surge in the youth vote? The challenges that remain if progressives are to engage all young people in electoral politics.

Far from apathetic: Canadian youth identify the supports they need to speak about and act on issues

Abstract According to the government agency responsible for tabulating trends in voting patterns, electoral participation in Canada plunged steadily from the 1990s to early twenty-first century; most of the decline is attributed to a dwindling of interest among youth voters, specifically those between 18 and 24 years of age. Recent national and international research links experiential learning with increased civic engagement. By framing our community student-learning project around student engagement and issues that the students raised, our study evolved as a joint collaboration among a government agency (Elections Canada), a national youth leadership programme (Encounters With Canada) and a Canadian university’s Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. This study gives particular voice to students to help educators better understand how teenagers see themselves as citizens, what issues they identify as significant, and what resources and materials they claim they need to engage with in the democratic process.

Looks matter: Facial similarity between a candidate and celebrity endorser influences youth voting behaviour

Looks matter: Facial similarity between a candidate and celebrity endorser influences youth voting behaviour

Trying to Turn up the Turnout: Youth Wings and the Youth Vote in the 2015 General Election

The political participation of 18 to 24-year-olds in British general elections is substantially lower than for other age groups. As a result, young people are frequently labelled in the media as being disaffected with traditional politics. This article explores the relationship between young people and traditional politics within the context of the 2015 general election in the United Kingdom. It addresses voter registration, electoral turnout, party preferences and youth wings of mainstream political parties in England: Conservative Future, Labour Students, Young Labour, Liberal Youth, Young Greens and Young Independence. The article reveals that whilst voter turnout among young people increased in 2015 and membership of youth wings grew, political institutions clearly did not invest time and money in the youth vote.

Asia's Nuclear Conundrum

Asia's Nuclear Conundrum

Insights from the Pinoy Youth Barometer on the Youth Vote

The Philippines is among the youngest countries in the world. It will be the youngest ASEAN economy by 2050, and if one considers only those countries with populations over 100 million, globally, the Philippines will be in the top 10. Due to their economic and political role, the youth will be critical in the country's development efforts. In September of 2012, the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center and its partners launched the Pinoy Youth Barometer, an initiative designed to collect and analyze the perspectives of the youth on key policy issues such as education, employment, migration, and politics. The barometer’s quarterly surveys were administered to over 2,000 college students, around the ages of 15-18. One of these quarterly surveys was administered in March 2013, two months before the 2013 mid-term elections in the Philippines, to survey Filipino youth and their voting preferences. This preliminary note presents the initial findings on youth voting preferences and their possible factors.

Candidate Age and Youth Voter Turnout

The research addresses youth voter turnout in the United States and, specifically, tests the relationship between candidate age and a commitment to vote by young people in a controlled experiment. We learn that potential young voters are more willing to commit to vote when they view pictures of younger candidates running. This is the case after controlling for the age and partisanship of respondents. In a real-world test of our experimental results, we examine state-level variation in youth voter turnout in midterm governor and Senate races (1994-2010). In the state-level analysis, we find a larger candidate age gap in governor and Senate races associates with higher levels of youth mobilization. In all, the research affirms the value of candidate characteristics as a predictor of voting behavior.

Engaging the youth – citizenship and political participation in Pakistan

The article explores the issue of youth political participation in Pakistan. In the light of the attention devoted by the Pakistani press to the youth vote in the 2013 Pakistani elections, this article discusses young Pakistanis’ articulation of their views on mainstream politics and their views of the state, and attempts to answer the question as to why young people in Pakistan are disillusioned with mainstream politics. The article focuses in particular on the perceptions held by those in their late teens to late 20s. Since 59 per cent of Pakistan's population is below the age of 24 and overall over 67 per cent of the population is under 30, their views on the state, rights, responsibilities and their concept of citizenship are a window into how Pakistan is likely to develop. The focus of the article is on voices that are rarely heard and which stand in stark contrast to the solutions offered by the institutional literature. The research is located in the wider discussion of the concept of citizenship and builds on previous work on citizenship in Pakistan.

The “Resurgent” Youth Voter in the United States

The 2008 U.S. Presidential election was a voting booth landslide for Democratic candidate Barack Obama over Republican candidate John McCain among 18-to-29 year old voters. This research analyzes 2008 National Election Pool exit poll data and seeks to explain why candidate Obama did so well in this election among this category of voters. The author finds that the evaluation of politicians' personalities is a critical part of explaining young voters' choice of candidate Obama as president. This research also found that young voters favored Obama because he was a Democratic Party candidate and liberal on political and social issues. In addition, the author finds some evidence of political parties reaching out to young voters as favorably affecting their voting choice which is important to analyze further given that both parties—in particular the Democratic Party—heavily favored the use of social media to do so. This cross-sectional analysis studies groups by age, party identification, and political ideology, in their general likelihood to support candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Lastly in analyzing young voter behavior from the 1992-2012 presidential elections, this research did not find evidence of a strong turnout of youth voters translating into an advantage for Democratic presidential candidates within that demographic group.

Youth, Facebook and politics in South Africa

Abstract Social networking sites, Facebook in particular, are growing in popularity in South Africa. With the increasing affordability of mobile handsets, users are able to access the mobile Internet and connect via mobile social networking applications. This article explores how Facebook is used by South African youth, with particular reference to their political participation and involvement. Research has shown the declining involvement of young people in political processes, particularly since democratic elections in 1994. This is an international trend, with a general global rise of political apathy and decreased news consumption among youth. However, Facebook and other new media applications widely used by young people have been seen as a potential vehicle to re-engage youth in political debate. The potential usefulness of such applications for creating networked publics and mobilizing political action was highlighted recently during the Arab Spring; and conversely, Facebook and Twitter have been used (e.g. in the United States) to target potential youth voters. The notion of e-democracy has raised the potential of the Internet to enhance political action and activism. The article draws on a national quantitative survey and Cape Town-based focus groups with South African youth in order to explore the links between Facebook use and political participation. The article argues that youth are engaging with alternative forms of political subactivism that work at the margins of the dominant public sphere.

Young populations in young democracies: generational voting behaviour in sub-Saharan Africa

Why do young Africans participate less in elections than their older counterparts? Given Africa's growing youth bulge, this constituency represents a numerically important voting bloc, and their lower participation in elections could undermine the legitimacy of the region's democratic trajectory. We address this question through a multi-level model that relies on individual-level data from the Afrobarometer surveys and country-level data for 19 of the region's more democratic countries. We classify Africa's youth as belonging to two categories, those aged 18–24 and those aged 25–35. We find that key determinants of the youth's voting behaviour include their access to political knowledge and information as well as their perceptions of the electoral context and party system. In the latter regard, the efficacy and fairness of elections and the degree of partisanship increase the youth's decision to vote, while the length of party incumbency is a deterrent to turnout. These findings hold important implications by highlighting that Africa's youth not only need to be exposed to greater fora for learning about the political process and party options but also that political parties in the region need to become more relevant to this constituency.

Class-Biased Electoral Participation: The Youth Vote in Chile

AbstractThere is no other country where the division between the old and young electorate is as striking as in Chile. For older voters, turnout exceeded, on average, 90 percent in 2009; for those aged less than 30, it fell below 30 percent. Using individual survey data from 2006, 2008, and 2010, this article studies the current socioeconomic composition of the Chilean young electorate. First, it shows that the young electorate is class-biased. Income is highly correlated with both registration and turnout even after controlling for education. Second, it presents evidence that class bias for the whole electorate has been increasing over time, due to generational replacement. The results are not promising for Chile’s democracy in the years to come, since equal participation is worsening over time.

Game Changer

Game Changer

Reframing Political Messages: Using a Festival to Reach Young Voters

Public institutions of higher education are charged with “preparing the next generation of informed, engaged citizens for our democracy” (American Association of State Colleges and Universities [AASCU] 2003, 1). Many institutions have fulfilled this mandate by becoming educational partners with Debate Watch, a program of the Commission on Presidential Debates. In this research, we describe a project aimed to generate youth voter interest in and knowledge about the 2008 election. Recalling the McLuhan (1964) truism “the medium is the message,” we shift the study from message content to message form when attempting to engage students in the political process. In particular, we describe the impact of combining discussions about presidential debates with a festival format to see what impact the form had in student civic engagement. We conclude that a festival format contributes greatly to the success of the Debate Watch event.

Civic Involvement among Egyptian Youth The effect of personal socioeconomic factors on youth voting in Egypt

Civic Involvement among Egyptian Youth The effect of personal socioeconomic factors on youth voting in Egypt