Policies related to lowering voting-age
| Relationship to poverty/ inequality mechanisms | Increasing youth participation is important to achieve a more equal representation, in light of inequalities across the life cycle. Lowering voting age could have a positive effect on making turnout more equal since young people would be exposed to a first election in a more stable and sheltered environment, prone to increase participation. In this, schools play a key role, by compensating for differential effects of social background. Read more |
| Party political support | Lowering voting age to 16 is party policy for all the main political parties apart from the Conservative party. There appears to be, however, some Tory support. Read more |
| Type of intervention | Legislative change. |
| Level | National. |
| Public support | While the public display mildly more positive attitudes than in the past, there is still a clear opposition to lowering voting age. Read more |
| Evidence of effectiveness | Research focuses on the effects on turnout more generally and less on participation gaps. Read more |
| Cost | Medium. |
| Overall | The policy could ameliorate inequalites across the life cycle and potentially compensate, through schools, differential effects of social background; at the same time turnout appears to be more unequal among younger cohorts. As research focuses on turnout more generally, questions about the equalising effects of the policy remain. This is in a context of growing political interest but still little public support. |
Unequal turnout in elections
Research has shown that higher inequality is associated with lower voter turnout (Solt, 2008; Horn, 2011). This has been found to be due to voter turnout falling disproportionately among the least well-off, leading to a steeping in the social gradient in voter turnout (Dempsey, 2018; Bartle et al 2017). Armingeon and Schädel (2015) taking level of education as indicator of social position, find that the participatory gap in elections between those with the lowest and highest level of education has widened in Western European countries since the 1970s. Mahler (2008) shows that this difference in reported turnout between the highest and lowest quintiles is particularly high in lower-turnout countries. Because of this skewed participation, “low voter turnout means unequal and socioeconomically biased turnout” (Lijphart, 1997, 2). Lower income groups are more averse to poverty and inequality and therefore falling participation among lower-income groups is likely to have a negative effect on policies targeted at poverty and inequality. If the disadvantaged are less involved in political participation, policy-making is inclined to be less responsive to the preferences of the disadvantaged, and public policy fails to address the needs of the disadvantaged (Dubrow, 2007). Policies promoting higher voter turnout are likely to result in increased representation of low-income households’ interests and consequently policy approaches that better reflect this.
3.1 Relationship to poverty/inequality mechanisms
Economic advantage and disadvantage have been shown to reinforce themselves across the life cycle (Hills et al, 2010). In this sense, increasing youth participation is important to achieve a more equal representation. Trends of increasing generational gaps are common, and they have been shown to be greater in the UK than among several other industrialised democracies (Wattenberg, 2003). However, unequal turnout appears to be higher in younger groups, and young people from affluent and more highly educated households tend to be more politically engaged than those from less well-off and less highly educated households (Park et al 2004). This might suggest that lowering voting age would not improve turnout gaps. In the literature, the act of voting is explored as self-reinforcing, as a habit that can be acquired (Franklin, 2004; Dinas 2012). If this is the case, abstention at the first election could lead to detrimental long-term effects on voter turnout (although, as we have seen for compulsory voting, the effects of voting habits is not entirely clear). Individual social networks matter for voting and young people face their first election in different social context, relying on different resources and social networks. For many young people, the family constitutes an important social network that can promote voting, but voting can also be promoted by friends, other students at school, colleagues at work and fellow members of different types of social groups (Bhatti and Hansen 2012). Franklin (2004) finds that 18 as a particularly ill-suited voting age, as some young people are likely to be still living with their parents and attending school, while those who are slightly older will have entered a more disruptive phase of life. If the first election is of such crucial importance, then lowering the voting age from 18 might help to increase turnout and make youth turnout more equal, since it would mean that most young people would be exposed to their first election while they are still in school and living with their family. Schools could compensate for students’ differing socio-economic backgrounds and thereby level the playing field for political participation.
Back UpThe Labour Party, the SNP, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats all support voting at 16 for all elections. The latter have included the proposal in their manifestos since 2001, but this was not included in the Coalition Agreement agreed with the Conservative Party. Historically the Conservative Party has been opposed to reducing the voting age and the Government currently has no plans to lower the voting age. However, prominent conservative party figures, including Ruth Davidson, Justine Greening and Nicky Morgan, support the lowering of the voting age to 16. The Scottish conservative supported lowering the voting age in Scotland ahead of the referendum on Scottish independence. In July 2018, the Electoral Reform Society published a new pamphlet on the case for votes at 16 backed by the Tory Reform Group.
Back UpLegislative Change
Back UpNational
Back UpIn 2018, YouGov asked about giving 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote: they find that 34% of respondents support the idea and 45% oppose it. When it comes to reducing the voting age, 24% believe it should come down while over half (51%) think it should not.
These results confirm but are also lower than those found in a previous 2013 poll: in this, 60% of British adults were found against ‘reducing the voting age to 16 for all UK elections.’ Only 20% supported the idea. Even amongst 18-24 year olds, 57% opposed the move, compared to around 51% of 25-59 year olds and 78% of those over 60.
Back UpEichorn et al (2018) uses survey data to compare 16- to 17-year-old Scottish respondents with their peers in the rest of the UK. Young Scottish respondents are substantially more likely to show higher levels of engagement. These differences are partially moderated when taking into account how important the referendum was perceived to be, but referendum impacts cannot explain all the differences and they are substantially more pronounced than the general differences we could observe for the adult population.
Zeglovits and Aichholzer (2014) examine turnout among 16- and 17-year-olds using electoral lists in Austria, the first European country that lowered the general voting age to 16. They find evidence of “first time voting boost” phenomenon at the beginning of one’s voting career, electoral turnout of 16- and 17-year-olds was significantly higher than turnout of older first-time voters (18 to 20). The study extends previous findings from Norwegian trial elections (Bergh, 2013) to a case study of “real” elections.
Schwarzer and Zeglovits (2013) earlier research in Austria confirm the assumption that 16-17 year olds living at home and attending school are prepared for the first election in a more sheltered environment. Schools’ impact on political interest increased after lowering the voting age. Accompanying measures, often organised via schools, help to increase turnout. The authors note the importance of civic education and preparation in schools to boost political interest and knowledge.
Back UpMedium.
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