As a 1st generation African immigrant living in the UK for nearly 10 years, I’m yet to vote in a general election. Why? In this blog I will confront uncomfortable truths about why this is the case. Firstly I recognise that although I’ve spent the majority of my young adult life here, along with many others, I have little to no knowledge about voting in the UK. I believe this is partly due to the lack of Citizenship education I’ve received whilst living here. Another factor I had to consider was if I’m even eligible to vote. The answer is yes, but technically I never knew I could, untill I started writing this blog. LOL! Let’s dive deeper into these issues which have halted my political engagement here in the UK thus far.

Academic David Sanders et.al refer to certain attitutudes and views towards the political system as “democratic engagement”, a term they used to characterise political involvement. A person or group can be seen as democratically/politically engaged if they show positive behavioural and psychological engagement with the political system and its associated democratic process. Whereas, politically disengaged people are characterised by their lack of political involvement in democratic processes. These people may be legally disenfranchised (refused the vote) due to their nationality or because of criminal convictions. (House of Commons Library, 2022). Or are self-disenfranchised due to disillusionment or apathy.

Conversely, political inequality occurs when people or groups have more influence over political choices and stand to gain more from the unfavourable outcomes for others, despite the democratic process being “equal” in its procedural rules. This therefore violates a fundamental democratic principle, whereby all citizens, regardless of status, should have an equitable chance to participate in shaping societal political decisions. (House of Commons Library, 2022). Research findings by the UK parliament (2021) shows that women and people from ethnic minority (EM) backgrounds are less likely to donate to political candidates, unless they share similar socio-economic backgrounds. White men on the other hand, appear to make up the majority of political campaign donations and white voters also appear to be less inclined to support a candidate who appears to be favoured by EM communities. Touch’e huh.

With that said, a 2014 Huffingtonpost research study showed that Black and Asian British people under 30 felt very strongly about politics (44%) versus their white counterparts (39%) although their keen interest in politics only 34% of EM youth said they would vote in the 2015 election vs 44% of white youths. (Ridley, 2014).

EM groups tend to vote less often than white ethnic groups. Figure 1 below illustrates voter data from the British Election Study for the General Elections of 2015, 2017, and 2019. (House of Commons Library, 2022).

Figure 1:

People from EM backgrounds are also less likely to be included on the electoral register to vote in comparison to their white counterparts. Researchers Anthony Heath and others found that non-registration was highest among EM groups. Figure 2. below illustrates the differences in registration levels among ethnic groups in Britain. Some people from EM groups tend to not get registered to vote as they (often wrongfully) believe they are not eligible to be registered. Black minorities of African descent and women from South Asian and Chinese backgrounds were among the groups least likely to register to vote; whereas British Asians of Indian descent were just as likely to be registered to vote as their white counterparts.  (House of Commons Library, 2022) 

Figure 2:

Overall, the long-term impact of these social disparities in voter turnout means that older wealthy voters have a greater influence on public policy, leaving younger and less wealthy voters feeling alienated, helpless, and mistrustful of conventional politics. Political alienation not only prevents some voices from participating in the decision-making that impacts everyone’s lives, but it also creates a vicious cycle of political apathy among us marginalised communities whose voices far too often go unheard in these democratic decisions.

As the gap in unequal political engagement is detrimental to society at large, it’s important we uncover the reasons for this disengagement to find effective solutions for the existence of these problems.

EDUCATION MATTERS

According to researcher Bryony Hoskins (2019), education is one the biggest factors for an individual’s political engagement, stating that knowledge of politics begins at home. Hoskins research demonstrates that 12 year olds in England already have differing views about political engagement. Hoskins’ study also found pupils whose parents had degrees were far more likely to partake in political activities at school, versus those students whose parents left school between the ages of  16 and 18. Hoskins also observed that schools which have higher intakes of privileged children offer far more political activities at school than those schools with higher intakes of students from low income households. Therefore, Citizenship education can play a pivotal role in helping disadvantaged youth become more politically engaged.

REPRESENTATION MATTERS

Research findings by Manning Gottlieb agency which interviewed close to 2,000 young people under 30, highlighted, 64% of youth from EM backgrounds felt it was important to be represented in public and political life, with over 1/4 of them expressing very strong sentiments towards this, whereas only 19% of white youth expressed similar views. Voting intentions may also be influenced by gender representation in politics. Young white women, who are underrepresented in politics as well, reported being much less likely to vote in the general election of 2015 than white young males. White males under the age of 30 reported voting intentions at a rate of 74%, compared to just 57% of women. (Ridley, 2014).

Interestingly,  there’s been a significant increase in voter turnouts among African American youth since 2008, with their registration rates increasing from 46.2% in 2006 to 62.4% in 2012. The 2012 American election saw the greatest voter turnout of black youth in  American history, many researchers link this to what’s called the “Obama effect”. (CIRCLE, 2022) Therefore it is important that we clearly understand the intersectionality of race, age, gender and other social determinants, as they all play a major role in the likelihood of an individual’s political dis/engagement.

WE MATTER!

Figure 3:

Finally I think it is important to note that although young people, EM groups and immigrants are less likely to vote, it doesn’t actually mean we don’t care, in fact, we probably care the most. See figure 3 above. (House of Commons Library, 2022). This is reflected in data analysis among immigrant youth in Belgium which found that European immigrants were by far the most politically active group and are more likely to engage in non conventional politics such as protesting, buycotting and boycotting i.e. (O’Toole, 2014). Through active engagement with EM youths, institutions can work to find solutions for closing the gap in political participation, we have so much to offer society, next time I’ll vote!

Solutions? Here’s how!

Bibliography:

1. CIRCLE. (2014). Political Engagement Trends Among Youth of Different Races/Ethnicities. Center For Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement online. [last accessed: 13 March 2023] https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/political-engagement-trends-among-youth-different-racesethnicities#african-american-youth
2. Heath,A.F., Fisher, S.D., Rosenblatt, G., et al.(2013).  The Political Integration of Ethnic Minorities in Britain. Google books. Pages 1-13. [last accessed: 13 March 2023] https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hzdoAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=info:47GSE4PDR7MJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=mH5mKKNuzJ&sig=FEqT5JdgqLKBMnPfKdQeymJggLU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
3. Hoskins, B., Janmaa, J.G. (2019). Social Gaps in the Forms of Learning and Political Engagement: 11–16-Year-Olds in England.  Springer.com. 28 June 2019. Pages 69-97. [last accessed: 11 March 2023].  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-48976-0_4
4. Hoskins, B. (2019).  Disadvantaged young people don’t vote, and why education is making this worse. Commentcentral.com [last accessed: 13 March 2023] https://commentcentral.co.uk/disadvantaged-young-people-dont-vote-and-why-education-is-making-this-worse/
5. Miller,J. (2021). Political polarisation and participation. UK parliament. [last accessed: 11 March 2023] https://post.parliament.uk/political-polarisation-and-participation/
6. O’Toole, T. (2014). Young ethnic minority people are citizens to be engaged in politics, not a problem group. Democratic Audit.com [last accessed: 13 March 2023] https://www.democraticaudit.com/2014/07/04/young-ethnic-minority-people-are-citizens-to-be-engaged-in-politics-not-a-problem-group/
7. Ridley, L. (2014). Young Black And Asian Brits Care More About Politics – But Are Less Likely To Vote. These Findings About The Non-White Youth Vote Could Surprise You. The Huffington Post. [last accessed: 10 March 2023] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/15/non-white-british-youth-voting-politics_n_5990782.html
8. Sanders, D., Fisher, S.D. et al. (2013). The democratic engagement of Britain’s ethnic minorities. Taylor and Francis online. Pages 120-139. [last accessed: 11 March 2023] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2013.827795
9. Sobolewska,M., Barclay,A.(2021). The Democratic Participation of Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Voters in the UK. [last accessed: 11 March 2023]https://www.jrrt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/The_Democratic_Participation_of_Ethnic_Minority_and_Immigrant_Voters_in_the_UK.pdf
10. Uberoi, E., Johnston, N.(2022). Political disengagement in the UK: Who is disengaged? House of commons library. [last accessed: 10 March 2023] https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7501/CBP-7501.pdf