BBC Newsbeat 18-24 Year Olds Political Survey

Poll of 6,345 18-24 year old Britons regarding the General Election on behalf of BBC Newsbeat.

Just one in four 18-24 year olds (26%) say that they are certain to vote at the General Election. Overall two thirds (69%) say that they are at least “fairly likely” to.

The most common reason why people say they are unlikely to vote is that they don’t know enough about the candidates and issues. 30% say this is the main reason, while half (52%) say it is one of top three most important reasons.

Just half of 18-24 year olds say that they have personally registered to vote. 30% say they have not registered to vote in the last year as they did not know the change to individual voter registration had come in.

Managing the NHS (42%) should be the highest priority for the Government at the current time according to 18-24 year olds.

Among young Britons, reducing university tuition fees (26%) is the only specifically “youth issue” to be considered as important as the more mainstream issues when deciding to vote.

A party’s national policies are most important to young people when deciding who to vote for. One in three (31%) say that this is their most important consideration and two thirds (69%) say it is in their top three.

David Cameron is the leader young people would most like to see running the country, but just 22% of 18-24 year olds hold this opinion.

Despite reducing the Government budget deficit being thought a Government priority by just 11% of 18-24 year olds, when prompted about the different alternatives about how to deal with the deficit, half (53%) say that the Government should seriously cut spending, rather than raise taxes on older people (10%) or neither cut spending nor raising taxes (14%).

Although 60% of 18-24 year olds say that they care who wins the General Election in May, just one in three (34%) say they are personally interested in politics.

Just a quarter of young people (28%) say that Russell Brand doesn’t know what he’s talking about when he gets involved in politics and 40% say they wish more people like Russell Brand got involved in politics.

Nearly two thirds of 18-24 year olds (64%) think that the outcome of the next General Election will make a difference to the future of Great Britain. Just 15% think not.

Nearly two thirds of 18-24 year olds (63%) say that they would be more likely to vote if they were able to do so online or by using an app.

Around half of 18-24 year olds think the result of the general election will affect their day to day life either a great deal (12%) or a fair amount (37%).

Date Published: 12th March 2015

Categories: GE2015 | Media | Politics | Public and communities | UK

Methodology

ComRes interviewed 6,345 British adults aged 18-24 online from 5th to 23rd February 2015. Data were weighted to representative of all GB adults aged 18-24. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.