Research
Research from last year shows that less than a third of young people, aged between 16 and 14, are interested in politics. In 2010, only 44% of those in the age bracket eligible to vote did vote in the General Election. Over 50% of people surveyed said they were not satisfied with the current system [source]. I believe that if you are not happy with the system, you need to vote for the change to show your disapproval and therefore encouraging people to vote in the 2015 General Election is a huge aim of this project.
Recently, the topic of allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote has been very controversial. Those in favour cite the ability for 16 year olds to get married and have sex, yet not participate in the UK's democracy. Their opposition claims that, as supported by the above, young people just aren't interested enough nor educated enough to be allowed to play a part in deciding an important issue. It is expected that young people tend to have a left wing bias, so allowing 16 and 17 year olds could have a large impact on results, in favour of Labour and the Green Party.
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is one organisation strongly in favour of lowering the voting age. In a recent article, they mention the success of young people voting in the Scottish Independence Referendum in September 2014, where 75% of 16-17 year olds voted [source]. It is also apparent that turnouts for young people in countries such as Austria and Norway (where 16 & 17 year olds are able to vote) are higher than expected of many critics. ERS also states that 'if young people are registered early and get into the habit of voting, we will see lasting improvements in turnout. If they vote early, they vote often!'
After much pressure, Parliament concluded not to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in the EU referendum, which is expected in 2017. The ERS, along with other organisations and some political parties, hopes to reverse this decision in time for the 2020 General Election.
James,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why you didn't save yourself a job and use our pre-made forms but this is good regardless.
Please add a bit underneath or create a new post and give it the title of research and just provide some sources and statistics of youth and their engagement with politics.
Ellie
Writing an explanation of the project on to our own forms was incredibly useful as we didn't have to keep repeating ourselves to everyone. There were many more participant release forms than just those two included above!
DeleteI have added some research to the post.
- James