Young voters, and especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds are significantly less likely to vote in elections than older voters. However, we know relatively little about why this is the case. This project partners with London Councils and Partnership for Young London to address this knowledge gap by engaging with policymakers and young Londoners to understand why marginalised young people do not vote.
Young people voting, photo credit Adam Scotti
Award: Flexible Funding
Project leads: Dr Kaat Smets and Professor James Sloam
Department: PIRP
Context and Underpinning Research
This project draws on Kaat and James’ recent research exploring the inequalities of political engagement, the drivers of voter turnout and abstention, the age gap in voter turnout, and political socialisation. This research shows that the age gap in voter turnout is widening in most Western democracies and especially in the UK, suggesting an urgent need for interventions to support youth participation during the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Project Overview
Young voters, and especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds such as care-leavers and certain minority ethnic groups, are significantly less likely to vote in elections than older voters. However, we know relatively little about why this is the case. This project partners with London Councils and Partnership for Young London to address this knowledge gap by engaging with policymakers and young Londoners to understand why marginalised young people do not vote.
Outcomes
The project leads ran 3 knowledge exchange events with 21 young marginalised young people about voting and democratic engagement. Based on these conversations, they produced a policy report and have run a networking event with relevant third sector organisations to further the knowledge-exchange process about how marginalised young people in London can be supported in order to increase their political engagement.
These were organised and co-run by Partnership for Young London and some of their colleagues at the Pan London Children in Care Council. Kaat and James then analysed the recordings of these discussions and wrote them up into a report which brings together a discussion of the democratic deficit young people face, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds; findings based on what the young people told us about their views of and experiences with politics; and some draft policy recommendations.
The project concluded with a networking event at Senate House with key third sector stakeholders who are working on youth political participation. There were 11 participants from 8 different organisations. SSIA funding covered the costs of these events as well as travel costs and enabled the project team to hire a Research Assistant.
Impact achieved so far
Participants from the Senate House event engaged deeply with the outputs, and several also committed to taking the findings back to their organisations and sharing them with other collaborators, meaning that even at a draft stage, the report is being circulated. Each participant also set out some action points they would make within their organisation or in collaboration with others.
Next steps
Partnership for Young London are setting up a follow-up knowledge exchange event with the young people who participated in the focus groups to share the report with them and discuss the recommendations.
If you are interested in the key themes within this project, please email the project leads kaat.smets@rhul.ac.uk and james.sloam@rhul.ac.uk
