Higher youth turnout could change tone, content and outcome of political debate
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Higher youth turnout could change tone, content and
outcome of political debate
BY JOAN BRYDEN, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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MARCH 22, 2014
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A man casts his vote for the 2011 federal election in Toronto in this May 2, 2011 photo. THE
CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
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OTTAWA - "My vote won't make any difference."
Calgary Herald
reporters on Twitter
It's a common refrain among those who don't bother to cast ballots in
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Canadian elections.
But a new analysis of young non-voters in the last federal election
suggests they should think again.
If young people had turned out to vote in the same numbers as the
population overall in 2011, pollster Nik Nanos says his research
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suggests they would have changed not just the outcome of the election
but the tone and content of the political debate.
Just over 60 per cent of eligible voters actually cast ballots in 2011.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/national/Higher+youth+turnout+could+change+tone+content+outcome/9650130/story.html[24/03/2014 8:43:29 AM]
Higher youth turnout could change tone, content and outcome of political debate
Among those under 30, fewer than 40 per cent bothered to vote.
Working with Kevin Page, the former parliamentary budget officer, on a
Discovering
Potential candidates to
The political rise and
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project aimed at engaging youth in the political process, Nanos has
mined data from his daily polling during the 2011 campaign as well as
research done for the Institute for Research on Public Policy to answer
the question: What if 60 per cent of young people had voted?
His answer: Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives likely
wouldn't have won a majority.
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More importantly, he says the political debate would have been more
hopeful and would have revolved around a broader range of issues if
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young people had been more engaged in the process.
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"What we find is that their concerns are much more diverse than older
Canadians who are fixated on jobs and health care," Nanos said in an
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interview. "So if you're a younger Canadian, you're twice as likely to say
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that the environment is a top national issue of concern. You're twice as
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demand
likely to say that education is a top national issue of concern."
His analysis also suggests older Canadians "are very cynical, they have
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less confidence in finding solutions" whereas younger people "are
more »
actually much more hopeful, have a higher level of confidence in finding
solutions."
From that Nanos concludes: "Just the mere act of engaging them could
reshape the tone of the dialogue."
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Much of the efforts to improve turnout among young voters have focused
on making it easier for them to vote, with polling stations on university
campuses and more advance polls, among other initiatives.
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But while the mechanics of voting are important, Nanos said his research
suggests political leaders could do more to engage young people simply
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by talking about the issues that concern youth and adopting a more
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election
hopeful, can-do manner.
"If we had the perfect voting system that was completely accessible, why
He likens the current political dialogue to a buffet that serves only
OTTAWA — Federal political parties
have been staunchly showing
support for pro-Western aspirations in Ukraine and
condemning Russian aggression ...
chicken and mashed potatoes — a diet that appeals to older Canadians
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do we think that more Canadians would vote if the content sucked?"
would attract more diverse voters, Nanos argues.
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of practice
Therein lies the Catch 22, however. Politicians necessarily target their
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who are most likely to vote. A buffet that offered a more diverse menu
messages at those who do vote and as long as the majority of young
people don't vote, their tastes are not going to be catered to.
"I think maybe we need to get our political leaders to change the dial on
the policy agenda," says Page, who is now research chair at the
University of Ottawa's school of political studies.
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spend “recklessly”
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scandal, Liberals allege
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At the same time, he adds: "I think in the case of students, when they
see their own (turnout) numbers ... and they don't see the policy content
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/national/Higher+youth+turnout+could+change+tone+content+outcome/9650130/story.html[24/03/2014 8:43:29 AM]
Higher youth turnout could change tone, content and outcome of political debate
on the political leaders' agenda, they're culpable."
Page is attempting to change behaviour on both sides of the equation,
inviting political leaders to come and meet with students to discuss ways
to improve political engagement.
He has organized an event Tuesday at UOttawa, featuring NDP Leader
Tom Mulcair, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Green Leader Elizabeth
May and Conservative MP Michael Chong, author of a private member's
bill aimed at empowering backbenchers.
Some of his students, meanwhile, have launched an online "I vote/je
vote" campaign, aimed at mobilizing young voters through peer
pressure.
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