Author Archives: Haydyn Mullard

Engaging Young People in Politics

 

In the lead up to the EU Referendum young people were seen as the demographic that could decide whether the United Kingdom leaves or remains in the EU. There were all sorts of ideas to get young people to register, David Cameron was on tinder, “Register to vote” geo-filters were on Snapchat and even Facebook was notifying people of the registration deadline. On paper it seems like this would work, as a young person, I use all of those apps on my Smartphone. I was reminded of it constantly and I expect frequent users of either of these apps were too.

When the registration deadline was extended after the website crashed two hours before it was supposed to close, there were some rather vocal members of the Leave Campaign stating that it should have closed regardless and it was clear they were worried that a 48-hour extension could hinder the hopes of a Leave vote.

Where did it go wrong then? I was at University at the time of this and all my friends were registered. A recent study by Opinium has revealed 64% of 18-24 year olds turned out to vote which is the lowest out of the age groups, for example the same study found that 90% of over 65’s voted. Those 18-24 year olds who did vote, voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining however.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 6 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jenny Barnes
    How about joining in fewer discretionary wars. Stop the MOD wasting money. Cancel Ajax and the planned F35a purchase. Mothball or use for spares one of the airc...
  • Mick Taylor
    @Russell. The UK already has almost the worst state pensions in Europe even with the triple lock. We pay out millions in supplementary pensions, housing benefit...
  • William Wallace
    Jana: Investing in strong research and development in key sectors (which is where China is soaring ahead), rebuilding training, apprenticeships and early edu...
  • David Raw
    @ Russell "First, by dumping the triple lock". Are you sure you've posted this on the correct website, Russell ? In the meantime I sincerely hope you never ...
  • Laurence Cox
    Our motto should be "not just higher taxes but fairer taxes". Individuals should be taxed exactly the same on their income whether that comes from earned income...