It’s essential for young people to vote. Who else is better to decide their future than themselves?
Should we lower the voting age and bring politics into the curriculum?
When we look at politics as a whole, a lot of people across the world do not even know much about it, which then results in wasted votes or people just not bothering to vote.
Young people, in particular, make up a large portion of this category. Whether it is the lack of politics on the curriculum or not enough resources available to people, the younger generation just do not vote as much as others.
Nikki Hall, a member of the British Youth Council, wrote a statement about their 2019 national campaign.
The campaign is to try and allow 16 and 17 year olds to participate in referendums and elections so they have a say in their future.
A survey carried out by TUXtra saw that 84% of people thought that 16-17 year olds should be allowed to vote if politics was put on the curriculum.
92% of those people said that the government should include politics into the curriculum so it teaches the younger generation on what to do and how to research into different parties and such.
Looking at peoples voting habits.
TUXtra researched into voting habits for the general election from 2015 to 2019.
The biggest age category that voted are those over 75 which is intriguing as it is essentially the younger generations future being held into account.
Different age groups have different values, which is why there is such a huge divide when it comes to certain age groups voting for certain parties.
A report by Statista said that: “In the upcoming United Kingdom General Election, 41 percent of people over the age of 65 advised that they intend to vote for the Conservative Party, compared with just 17 percent of those aged between 18 to 34.”
Who would you vote for in a general election?
Dr Christopher Massey, who served as a cabinet member and has worked at Teesside University since 2015, told TUXtra: “Intriguingly voting support by age differs hugely between political parties. Whilst the Conservatives won the 2019 election by a large majority over the Labour Party (45% vs 33% of the popular vote), amongst the young there was a very different picture.”
“62% of 18-24 year olds and 51% of 25-34 year olds voted Labour at the 2019 election. Again, comparing this with the over 65s makes interesting reading. Only 17% of over 75s supported Labour, whilst 64% supported the Conservatives.”
Ipsos Mori published a report that said that Labour had a 43 point lead when it came to 18-24 year olds voting whereas the Conservatives had a 47 point lead with over 65 year olds.
TUXtra targeted 18-24 year olds and asked them a series of questions.
When asked why did they not vote, 34% of people said its because they did not know enough about politics and felt like they would have wasted their vote. The other 16% said they just did not bother as it does not interest them much.
On the other hand, 43% who did vote said they did it because it is their future and they wanted to decide on the party that will best suit their needs for the future. 7% of people admitted they voted just to use the vote even though they did not really know much about the respective parties.
Massey said: “A number of reasons could be suggested as to why people (of all ages, but particularly the young) do not vote. Perhaps people find it difficult to understand, or their polling station is far away.
“A lot of young people also feel disillusioned and may believe that their vote does not matter.”
There was a mixture of comments from the survey such as, ‘it’s your vote so you should use it wisely’ and ‘young people’s values are different to older people’s values so we should vote to reflect on parties that reflects them values.’
Is it beneficial for young people to vote and how can we encourage them?
The British Youth Council encourages ‘young people aged 25 and under to influence and inform the decisions that affect their lives.’
Danny Brown, who is the Regional Coordinator for the British Youth Council told us his thoughts.
Massey said: “The vast majority of decisions made in everyday life are directed by the government.”
“In recent months, we have witnessed significant changes to pension and taxation (National Insurance) legislation.”
“Young people are those who will be most impacted by the rise in National Insurance contributions, or more long term, the changes to pension arrangements in the country (including the age of retirement). I would encourage young people to take an active part in elections as the choices made at such contests impact their lives now and in the future.”
A report by Harvey Morton, a youth ambassador, said: “In today’s world, young voters are crucial. This knowledge makes making an informed vote much easier.”
“The fact is, young people are now more interested in decisions that affect their lives and there is a bigger attitude to change more than ever. And voting provides the biggest opportunity to impact this. Young voters are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of the election for the longest, so they need to voice their concerns.”
We asked some of you your opinions on whether or not it is benefic
See below a list of links to get involved.
British Youth Council here.
Voting counts here.
Votes at 16 here.
The Youth Vote UK here.
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