Labour and Tories lag in youth affections
Published 04 June 2001
Generation Next
The Liberal Democrats are likely to win the youth vote at the general election, with Labour and the Conservatives well behind. The final results of our survey of 15- to 21-year-olds - conducted by e-mail in collaboration with Demos through the internet company Another.com - also suggests that the election campaign has been less of a turn-off to young people than might have been expected. More than one in four agreed that the campaign had increased their belief that politics had an influence on their lives, while 32 per cent said they were more likely to follow the work of the next government as a result of the campaign (against 10 per cent who were less likely); and 36 per cent said they identified more closely with their favourite party. However, only 15 per cent said they were more likely to join a political party after this campaign, while 33 per cent were less likely.
Our table (below) shows the intentions of those in the survey who have a vote and intend to use it. Among those who have no vote (presumably mostly the under-18s), the results were broadly similar, but the Liberal Democrat lead was slightly higher.
The Youth Vote: how it will split
Lib Dem: 331 responses (28%)
Labour: 256 responses (22%)
Conservative: 196 responses (17%)
Green: 68 responses (6%)
Socialist Alliance: 34 responses (3%)
Scottish Nationalist Party: 23 responses (2%)
UK Independence Party: 19 responses (2%)
Monster Raving Loony Party: 19 responses (2%)
Plaid Cymru: 16 responses (1%)
Scottish Socialist Party: 13 responses (1%)
Irish parties: 13 responses (1%)
Socialist Labour Party: 3 responses (0%)
Others (includes undecided, wouldn't say): 189 responses (16%)
Total responses: 1180
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