ARE POLITICS FINALLY IMPORTANT TO YOUTH?

2017 elections in the UK caused major complication and confusion to both British government as well as citizens. The focus was on how the youth uplifted the souls who dislike the Conservative party. This election will be very influential in history due to the youth “flexed their political muscles to real effect for the first time” (Travis, 2017). For some spontaneous reason, 2017 was a game changer for politics involving the youth, however what is the reason behind this? and is this a good impact or not?

Some of the younger generation are not interested in politics and therefore the clear majority do not vote. Politics are very boring to some people, especially the youth aged 18-24. However, this has changed and is evident in the 2017 election. Going back to previous votes and elections, 18-24-year olds did not really participate. In the 2015 elections, the percentage of 18-24-year olds voting was 43%, in contrast to the 78% of the elder generation aged 65+.

Figure 1. showing 18-24-year olds and 65+ percentage of voting by party (Ipsos MORI, 2015)

Figure 1 shows the difference between 18-24-year olds voting and 65+ in 2015. As expected, the elder generation had a higher percentage of voters in contrast to the younger generation. Due to the higher percentage of the elder generation voting, the results were in favour of them which is partially why Conservatives won the election. Government policies are usually more relatable for ‘grey voters’ and the legislations are more efficient for them.

In my opinion, there were many reasons as to why more of the younger generation did not vote in 2015.This is due to the 18-24-year olds not being socially aware what happens in the political environment and therefore lack knowledge. This makes them hesitant to vote as they do not know what they are voting for which is very problematic.

Figure 2. showing 18-24-year olds and 65+ percentage of voting by party (Ipsos MORI, 2015)

Figure 2 shows in 2017 has a slight change in the number of 18-24-year olds voting. It indicates an increase in comparison to 2017. The percentage rose from 43% to 54%. Similarly, the election whereby the younger generation voted, is when the Conservatives did not win.

The 2017 election was quite manic due to the close votes between Labour and Conservatives. As the younger generation are more aware of how politics are structured in the United Kingdom and know what is beneficial for them in society, it made a positive impact with more votes to make a change (Travis, 2017).

’Youthquake’ is evident in the 2017 elections as the youth made such an impact on results. The youthquake was very spontaneous for individuals and was not expected. This was due to people believing the youth who vote as apathetic and individualistic towards politics; evidence goes against this. There are many legislations and policies that are introduced including pensions and Housing which are issues targeted at the elder generation. Due to the lack of importance for the youth, they do not engage as it is irrelevant (Sloam, 2007).

It is very drastic and sudden that the youth are understanding and gaining knowledge via politics. The most affective way to get inside of the youth’s mind is social media. Rain et al (2012) stated that the use of social media and politics is beneficial for the younger generation and will form a solidarity in younger individuals views on politics. Other theorists such as Loader et al (2014) also agree that the use of social media to allow younger people to express their views and engage freely will help their knowledge as well as become more comfortable in politics.

https://youtu.be/Ps94FeQjHvM

Niall Gray

“Labour won social media election, digital strategists say. Several observers suggested that Labour dominated the digital election because the party used Facebook, Twitter and online videos to build and motivate its voter base, rather than to attack the Conservatives” (Booth and Hern, 2019). On behalf of the Labour party, this is a very tactical approach to engage younger people in politics. This is due to the usage of social media by the younger generation. “Labour garnered over 1 million shares during the entire campaign – three times as many as the Conservatives. Granted, Labour also posted over three times as often (547 compared to 161 posts)” (Bossetta, 2019).

Figure 3. showing ad impressions by Labour, sourced via Media Policy Project Blog

Figure 3 shows how predominant the election ads affected individuals. This is due to the increase in social media usage and making people aware that voting time is approaching. This is a great insight as it shows how significant and important elections are. Similarly, they are more educated using media and Labour smartly educated them through social networking, so it is always visible to them.

Overall, I believe that this is the start of the younger generation being involved in politics. They can make a huge improvement to policies. However more education and information in the form of easy access like Facebook is attractive for the youth.

       Bibliography

• Booth, R. and Hern, A. (2019). Labour won social media election, digital strategists say. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/09/digital-strategists-give-victory-to-labour-in-social-media-election-facebook-twitter  [Accessed Feb. 2019].
• Bossetta, M. (2019). Section 5: The Digital Campaign – Election Analysis. [online] Election Analysis. Available at: http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2017/section-5-the-digital-campaign/  [Accessed Feb. 2019].
• Gray, N. (2017). What young people think about politics. [image] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps94FeQjHvM&t=157s  [Accessed Feb. 2019].
• Ipsos MORI. (2019). How Britain voted in 2015. [online] Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2015 [Accessed Feb. 2019].
• com. (2019).How Britain voted in 2017 [online] Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-06/how-britain-voted-in-the-2017-election_2.pdf [Accessed Feb. 2019].
• Loader, B. (2011) Networking Democracy? Social Media Innovations and Participatory Politics in Information, Communication and society, volume 14, n0.6, pp. 757-769
• Media Policy Project. (2019). The final days of Labour’s Facebook GE2017 campaign. [online] Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2017/06/19/the-final-days-of-labours-facebook-ge2017-campaign/ [Accessed Feb. 2019].
• Rainie, L., Smith, A., Schlozman, K. L., Brady, H. and Verba, S. (2012) Social Media and Political Engagement. [online] Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2012/PIP_SocialMediaAndPoliticalEngagement_PDF.pdf [Accessed Feb. 2019]
• Sloam, J, (2007). “Rebooting Democracy: Youth Participation in Politics in the UK”. Parliamentary Affairs, [Online]. Vol.60 No.4, 548 – 567. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/60/4/548/1581141 [Accessed February 2018]
• Travis, A. (2017). The youth for today: how the 2017 election changed the political landscape. The Guardian, [online] p.1. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/09/corbyn-may-young-voters-labour-surge [Accessed Feb. 2019].