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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Votey McVoteface
— understanding the growing turnout gap between the generations | | Author(s) | Laura Gardiner |
| Corporate Author | Resolution Foundation; Intergenerational Commission |
| Publisher | Resolution Foundation, London, September 2016 |
| Pages | 20 pp |
| Source | http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/wp-content/upl... |
| Keywords | Elections ; Participation ; Older people ; Young adults [20-25]. |
| Annotation | Renewing the intergenerational contract rests on policies related to labour market outcomes, the accumulation of wealth and assets, and the role of the welfare state. It also relies on broad engagement in the democratic process across the generations. This paper is the second report of the Intergenerational Commission, which has been brought together to explore questions of intergenerational fairness. It explores how the turnout by age gap manifests itself in each generation's propensity to vote over the life cycle. It examines how the overall drop in turnout has played out for people at different life stages, and the voting "weight" of different cohorts when we account for their relative size. The author notes that at the General Election in 2015, 67 per cent of baby boomers voted, compared to 56 per cent of generation X, and just 46 per cent of millennials of voting age (those born between 1982 and 2000). This generational turnout gap has opened up since the late-1990s - recently laid bare by voting patterns in the EU referendum - is a cause for concern. A growing divide between young and old means that generation X and the millennials have voted in lesser numbers than previous generations did during early adulthood. The title for this report alludes to the poll to name a research ship resulting in a win for 'Boaty McBoatface', which may be seen either as voters failing to take the electoral process seriously leading to bad choices being made; or else signifying a government frustrated by results it does not want, and a public angry that its voice is not heard. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-160923003 E |
| Classmark | VLE: TMB: B: SD6 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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