The BBC ran an article on research conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. The results showed that less than a third of young people express any interest in politics. It found only 31% of 16 to 24-year-olds were fairly or very interested in the subject, compared with about half of those aged 55 and over. Almost two-thirds of adults of all ages thought they would be seriously neglecting their duty if they failed to vote.
Of those in the youngest group – aged 16 to 24 – 42.4% stated that they had no interest in politics. This fell to 21% for over-65s. This research suggests that the younger electorate are becoming increasingly disengaged with the democratic system – but it also suggested they were more likely to express themselves politically in other ways, such as boycotting environmentally unfriendly issues. Only 44% took part in the 2010 general election.
Will Brett, head of media at the Electoral Reform Society, said that many young people were becoming involved in politics in more informal ways, such as social media campaigns, but he added: “We need to find ways of getting them more interested in our system of representative democracy. It’s extremely precious.”
What we are not getting in politics, either in the UK or the US, are altruistic people who genuinely want to serve their country and do their best for it. I do bellieve that most British MPs in the 19th Century believed in public service (which might have been due to the generalised fact that they were well-heeled in the first place and didn’t need to use Parliament as a later stepping stone) As a result you saw the greatest number of social reforms in history, and Parliament was deeply respected. Now, to many serve their time and hurry off to get lucrative jobs elsewhere. No wonder many voters despise them.
You are quite right about the difficulties involved, but with American higher education rapidly losing the plot and becoming ordinary for- profit businesses, it really is important that small children get a decent, civilised start to life. Looks like they will get less and less out of “further education” . Tragic. But I agree, it is one thing to be a general advocate for change, another to find a way of making that change.
There’s very little evidence to suggest that young people not taking part in politics is due to a principled disillusionment with the political process. Young people are no more likely to be angry at politicians than their elders. The more compelling reason for the low youth voter turnout is that young people are simply less interested in politics. That’s certainly the experience I’ve had as a young person. People at university are very politically engaged, but this isn’t the case at all with young people who left education sooner. I think part of it is that young people are generally less intelligent. Another factor is that it used to be considered a civic duty to vote, that age is long gone.
There are lots of thing that can be done to address this: proportional representation (which would end the culture of safe seats and make every vote count equally), better political education in schools, making the first time you vote compulsory (I’m not in favour of compulsory voting generally but I’m open to this idea), online voting, and maybe national service- which helps with the civic duty bit.
For me, the problem with youth disengagement is that it has led to public policy systematically favouring the elderly. They enjoy a triple lock pension system, where pensions rise by 2.5%, wage growth or inflation, whichever is highest. They also enjoy other perks like bus passes, free TV licneses for the over 75s and the Winter Fuel Allowance. They have benefited from rising house prices but young people are struggling to even rent, let alone buy. They enjoyed a free university education yet deny our generation the same. And no, they didn’t earn it because the welfare state costs far more than they ever paid in taxes. The difference is paid for by debt, which will have to be paid back by us. And no political party acknowledges this, because they depend on the grey vote.
I agree with most of what you say, but with one exception: “They enjoyed a free university education…and no, they didn’t earn it because the welfare state costs far more than they ever paid it taxes”. Wow! If I had the time and the paperwork I could blow that out of the water, Owen. For a start, only4 % of the population went to university. Some fell by the wayside, but in general they paid a huge amount in taxes after they left university. Yes, they had well paid jobs. You should look at the swingeing tax rates in the 1970’s just for a start . I personally was paying 45% of my income in tax at one point. I easily covered the cost of university, I promise you. That’s not to say things are fair now – I am well aware of that. But bear in mind that my generation was supporting our elders, ( we had parents and grandparents, too!) many of whom were disable in the Second World War and needed much more financial support than people now. The welfare state was young and old people expected a lot. No one now is talking about that time. Suffice to say, it is not as simple as you make out.