With the upcoming General Election on 4 July, the issue of political engagement is back in the limelight. More specifically, the problem of low turnout from young people? Market research firm Ipsos discovered that the 18-24 age group had the biggest decrease in voter turnout in the 2019 general election compared to 2017, with a fall of 7% to 47%.
The issue is not unique as the US and Japan, for example, have also struggled with it. But what are the reasons why young people aren’t turning out to vote and what can be done to encourage them to go to the ballot box?
Disillusionment with governments
There is no straightforward answer to the question of why so few young people vote, and there is academic debate on the subject. Speaking to The Guardian, 25-year-old Alexandra cited political disillusionment as the main reason she is considering not voting. She expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of politicians, feeling that the issues that young people hold dear are not being addressed by political parties and that despite working a well-paid job in finance in London, she and her partner are struggling with the cost of living crisis and are considering moving abroad.
Alexandra is not alone with her lack of belief in Westminster. The National Centre for Social Research found that voter trust has fallen to record lows on issues such as belief that politicians will prioritise country over party and lack of faith in the British system of government. This lack of confidence does not extend to non-political institutions like the judicial system and the civil service, but is more focused around the central and devolved governments. What is most concerning is this lack of voter trust is also being expressed by the youngest in society, as only one in ten of 8-17 year olds believe that the needs of young people are being adequately considered by today’s politicians.
Lack of young voter awareness, lack of engagement
One potential catalyst for this disillusionment could be a lack of engagement with young people. Speaking to BBC Radio CWR, student Mary Kiusa spoke about a lack of awareness among young people about the civic process and similarly to Alexandra, the feeling that young people are not being listened to on the issues that matter to them most. In the same conversation, 23-year-old Daniel Sherrington pointed to a lack of utilisation of social media and the prioritisation of older people in political discourse. The lack of awareness about the democratic process was a recurring theme among young people who were asked about their voter absenteeism.
There are also structural barriers that young people have to navigate to vote. While most older people have stable ways of life, Karen Turner from Vox highlighted that the lives of young people are much more fluid. There are varying time constraints like work and university with unpredictable schedules, often away from where they grew up. This instability along with a lack of information about the voting process creates anxiety regarding voting and while Turner’s article focused on students in the US, some of the worries expressed are ones that students in the UK also relate to.
Solutions – lose voter ID laws, lower the voting age
As part of their condemnation of the “war on the younger generation” by the Conservative Party, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper, pledged to scrap the voter ID laws. This was done in part because of their disproportionate negative effect on young people and was also criticised due to the larger variety of allowed ID for people over 60 compared to those under 25. Furthermore, the photo ID policy has been heavily criticised since its introduction as ‘unnecessary’ and an act of ‘gerrymandering’.
There is evidence to suggest that general unawareness of the new election laws has had a greater effect on young people, which has fuelled opposition to the policy from the Liberal Democrats as well as from Labour. An April 2024 YouGov survey also found that 24% of Londoners between the ages of 18 and 24 were unaware of the photo ID law and younger Londoners were approximately six times as likely to not know about the need for photo ID than those over 65.
Labour has also proposed lowering the voting age to 16, a policy that has been received badly outside of the party’s base. However, the move is not without precedent in other Western democracies. Sixteen and 17-year-olds in Germany and Belgium were allowed to vote in the 2024 EU parliamentary election and Scotland lowered the voting age before the 2014 independence referendum. While not enough time has passed to judge the policy’s impact on youth turnout in Germany and Belgium, evidence from Scotland suggests that allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote helps to foster longer-term consistent voting habits among young people.
Why does this matter?
The biggest issue with the low number of young voters is that their interests, which are often in direct contrast to older voters, will have a much lower chance of being addressed. The main objective of elections is for all demographics within an electorate to have their voices heard but with such large disparities in voter turnout between age groups, the risk of misrepresentation becomes much greater.
What’s more, voting is a habit that needs to be built. The biggest concern is that it is more difficult than ever for young voters to get into the habit of going to the polls and casting their votes, whether that is in a general election or in local elections. The fear is that this will result in both the decline of future UK election turnout levels as well as exacerbate the already large turnout gap between younger and older voters.
However, the pro-democracy NGO Freedom House has a more optimistic outlook. While it is true that young people are not responding to the more conventional forms of political engagement like voting and party membership, they engage in other ways, such as attending protests and social media activism. They suggest that it is frustration more than apathy that is driving young people away from the polls, which they believe must be an essential consideration that democratic leaders should take in order to engage with young people in a meaningful way.
