A NEW poll for the Electoral Reform Society Scotland has revealed a “dangerous generation gap” in how young people feel about voting ahead of the General Election on June 8.
The poll by BMG Research found young people were the most likely of any age group to discuss politics but felt alienated from the political system. It found only 26 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds feel they have the option to vote for someone who “understands their life” compared to half of the over-65s.
Those in the younger age group were most likely to say they talked about how to make their community a better place to live, and the most likely to discuss politics with friends and family, at 50 per cent and 64 per cent respectively, compared 33 per cent and 43 per cent for over-65s.
A majority of 16- to 24-year-olds (65 per cent) said they wanted technology to be used to “give more power to citizens” compared to 40 per cent of over-65s.
Electoral Reform Society Scotland spokesman Jonathon Shafi said action was needed to tackle the “dangerous generation gap”.
He said: “This polling tells us that young people feel that politicians don’t understand their lives. We know that older people tend to vote more, but we also see that young people want to embrace technology to give citizens more power.
“What’s important about this is that young people appear to want to be able to connect their general political awareness with power and decision-making. We have the chance to close this dangerous generation gap before it becomes unbridgeable.”
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