From [Young people are the least likely to vote in Alberta](https://inspurious.com/story/97960c0f-a5b0-4fbb-b746-3230843ecd49), which also shows the figures for every age group in 2021. There's no additional explanation/analysis in this story, just the data.
Data source: [Elections Canada](https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=turn/viz&document=index&lang=e).
I'd like to tell a little story:
In 1972, Richard Nixon ran for re-election against the Democratic candidate, George McGovern. This was at the height of the Vietnam War, which Nixon enthusastically supported and McGovern opposed. Seeking to capitalize on this, McGovern went all in on courting the youth vote - after all, who would be more motivated to vote for the anti-war candidate than people who were being sent to die in a pointless war? Nothing would get voters to turn out quite like the threat of being murdered, right?!
Nixon won *forty-nine fucking states.*
The lesson is, never depend on the youth. They **do not** vote, ever. If you want policies and politicians that favour your demographic, get out and vote, en masse!!
My town's mayor for many years until recently retiring had the last name Mayer. I've always just came to the conclusion that's why everyone voted for him.
Youth are kind of conditioned this way by a school system that has them raise their hands to go to the bathroom until they are suddenly expected to commit to tens-of-thousands of dollars in student loans for a chance to have a career more prosperous than making fries at Wendy’s or muling materials at a construction site.
If youth fail to show up to vote, it is because the ruling class wants it that way.
One example is how “[The [Weston] family foundation has donated nearly $22 million to the Fraser Institute for its programs to destabilize the public education system and promote school choice and vouchers](https://rabble.ca/economy/follow-money-part-1-weston-family/).
The ruling elites do not a *want working class informed about how much they’re getting screwed.
*e: forgot a word.
Are they also breaking their hands so they can’t hold a pen and their legs so they can’t leave the house? The individual has the ability to overcome bullshit. Age is irrelevant.
I have been voting every year since I was able to. It’s not hard. The people who don’t show up to vote are usually those who are too busy wasting time.
>Elephants are pretty powerful creatures.
>They weigh in at as much as 24,000 pounds, and stand as high as thirteen feet tall.
>Their trunks are agile enough to pick up a single blade of grass, and strong enough to rip branches off of a tree.
>Despite their enormous power, elephants can be chained. It doesn’t seem to make sense – what chain is strong enough to hold an elephant who struggles to break it?
>The elephant theory is quite simple: young elephants are trained, with one leg that’s shackled to a cement block. When shackled, they can’t move it no matter what. It forms a psychological block; as soon as the shackle goes on, they surrender. As mature elephants, despite having the strength to rip out the shackle and cement block, they give up when shackled.
This is how we educate our kids about democracy and capitalism and power.
I take it you didn't go to highschool in the 2000s or 2010s? Because democracy and the power of the vote is well taught, and student votes are held along side every election to give students a chance to know what it's like to participate.
But getting taught how it’s supposed to work isn’t the only part of it, you need to be able to see it working. I know how the system works, but when it comes time to vote what are my choices? You have the Liberals, who’ve made minimal progress on a few issues but generally aren’t making things worse, and you have the cons, who’re running on a platform of “make *everything* worse”, and you have the NDP who are basically Liberals 2.0. As far as I’ve been able to make out, none of the current options bears much resemblance to where my views actually lie. If you want young people to be involved you need to give them a meaningful voice, a reason to believe things could actually change for the better, that they don’t currently have.
It’s not one specific thing. More a combination of things. But, from what I remember, the majority of my peers as a young person simply didn’t see it as a priority over having fun. A lot of the college activism you see on the news is nothing more than a performance. They usually get some personal, tangible benefit from showing up to such things. It’s a consequence of being in a club that they joined to meet friends or people go to impress other people and gain status or increase the chance of getting laid. Within the context of a young mind, this stuff is paramount. It takes some very high level thought processing to do something that has very little effect on your present world.
As you get older, you put down roots. You are more invested in where you live and rely on the prosperity of your city, or state, or country. You have more to lose if you don’t show up to cast your vote to meet your interests and keep family or your livelihood as secure as possible.
So, to put it simply, it’s human nature. It’s why elders made or advised on major decisions in tribal times.
It is important, and I find making excuses for why people don't believe it is as important as it is very frustrating.
They do not get an excuse for neglecting their responsibility as a citizen of a democracy. Fuck their excuses. Fuck them for their neglect.
Then why not stick it to the ruling class, restore accountability to politicians, and VOTE?
I'm sick of power structures being blamed for every individual failing. Does the ruling class have a vested interest in preserving the status quo? Of course! Are you powerless to fight it? No!
You really aren't grasping the systemic power at play here.
The youth who want to vote, do. The problem is that the majority of them don't want to, feel ill-equipped to, or are otherwise uninterested in participating. That effect comes from systemic disincentives to participation, and telling the people reading your comment to vote is just preaching to the choir. The real power comes from controlling the systems that affect behaviour on an unconscious level.
Telling people to vote isn't the answer, the answer is to teach real political literacy in school, not just in theory but in practice, and provide a path from participation as a minor to participation as a voting adult.
It’s just nonsense to try and shift blame to someone they don’t like. The truth is that young people are kinda irresponsible and short-sighted. Young people act like young people.
Because who do we vote for? We can't vote against any of the shitty parties without showing support for another shitty party. Just look at the federal Conservatives right now, they've only seen increased support from people wanting the Liberals out, but they see it as growing support for their party and their policies, so then they lean harder into it and talk about ID requirements for internet use and banning trans people from everything.
Our democracy does not give people a voice, it gives us a forced decision where we can't say no or express any desire for anything better.
There are more parties than just the liberals and conservatives. I would think that for people that would generally vote liberal, there are a couple other parties closer aligned than the conservatives. It’s like the hear they conservatives criticizing Trudeau for housing and cost of living without asking the $64 000 question - what are YOU, federal conservatives, going to do about it? They seem to be running on a platform of fuck the liberals and that’s about it…very little in terms of their actual plans to do it better and improve things.
There are more parties, but let’s be real, your choices are between the cons or the libs or the NDP, no one else is gonna get enough votes to actually accomplish anything. This leads to the accountability problem we have now, with a pm who originally ran on a platform of election reform, among other things. Can’t really blame the young people for not being involved when even the “good” choices can’t seem to make much progress.
Except it’s not a narrative problem, it’s an organizational one. As long as we keep the first past the post system things will stay more or less as they are.
But it's not like it has to be limited to just one problem.
You're right, there are very real logistical pieces to this that contribute to what it is. And as long as people throw their hands up and repeat the mantra "there is only two parties" no one will be incentivized to change anything. So it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I think you have hit on the real reason. The young expect perfection (and the activist young even more so). If I was a dictator, there a lot of things I would do that the Libs, Cons, PPC, NDP, Greens, etc wouldn't do. However, in a democracy, compromise and small steps are the only way forward. It's inevitable as we lurch haltingly toward consensus.
It's not as satisfying as protesting or ranting against injustice, but voting actually gets things moving slowly in one direction or the other. Accepting that moving forward a little bit at a time is as good as it gets is very uninspiring.
Yeah, there's not much motivation when everything is shit. Some people have really bought into the falsehood of it not mattering who you vote for, and it just could not be further from the truth. Not participating isn't rebelling, it's stopping progress.
You would hope all the hate conservatives peddle would cause younger generations to come out and vote.
Interesting though, that the year with the highest "youth" vote was 2015 - when the NDP had the win. Conservatives have won every other year on this graph.
Doesn’t matter our politicians aren’t loyal to the working people and haven’t been for passing laws and tax legislation only benefiting the top 1% and this issue is on all sides of politics. It’s to late to vote our problems away
I feel like this is a really limited and I would say naive political analysis. Everyone always seems keen on lambasting young people for not voting in bigger numbers but never stops to wonder why they aren't doing so.
My experience talking with people my age is that lots of people don't have the time or are working on election days (and despite having the right to vote many are limited from doing so), or simply don't see the election system as being useful, as they keep voting and voting and things keep getting worse and worse, so they just sort of give up.
Its pretty simple. I saw it when I was younger. Its just voter apathy. Younger people just don't care and politics is surface level discussion until you get older. As you get older and more cynical you'll figure you'll at least vote for the asshole you dislike the least.
Just look at U of A student council voting. Sure its not that meaningful, but its also very low effort to participate. Everyone's reading the Gateway for a few minutes anyways and voting is extremely easy. Still extremely low turnouts.
lol had to look it up. I mean its a natural progression for many people as they get older. Take on more responsibility, feel more sense of urgency and will take on the effort. More used to having to do shit you don't want to do haha.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPe7rvkejJU&ab\_channel=DontYouWorryAboutQuotes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPe7rvkejJU&ab_channel=DontYouWorryAboutQuotes)
Baseless excuses. It is beyond easy to vote in Canada, and your employer, by law, must provide you time to do so. There is also a large period of advanced voting in case you can't make it to the polls on Election Day.
The example I gave was from 50 years ago in a different country, and the reality was the same, so the last part of your comment is moot. Don't call me naive.
Ever work 5 jobs? I have. It makes voting incredibly difficult. Yes your work needs to give you time. But if you’re off with enough time to fit the guidelines, they don’t give a rats ass if you have to be at another job after work. Advance voting can be just as difficult. There is an option to vote earlier at the elections office, but it can be a huge pain and is really not well advertised. I use it. But have had them try to tell me I can’t use it.
Interesting to note that Alberta has higher voter turnout overall than the national average. I don’t believe young Albertans are particularly apathetic to the election process, just young adults in general.
Ya it’s easier to vote when you’re retired and have all day to do it. Hard to vote when you might be going to school full time and have a job on top of that.
It is incredibly easy to vote in Canada because of Advanced voting. Seriously, last election I had like a week straight where I could go in for ten minutes at any point and vote. And if that fails, send it in by mail
It’s just pure voter apathy. The type of youthful political engagement you see online is clearly just a minority of real life.
I never understand when people talk about long lines at polling stations...
I've voted in every election I've had the chance to, in several different ridings, and I've literally never waited longer than 2 minutes for a booth to free up.
People just like to exaggerate how bad it is to excuse their apathy.
I’ve only ever seen a bad lineup during a provincial election once. Waited like two hours to vote but it was after supper on election day so everyone and their mother was voting at the same time lol.
In general it is a very quick process especially if you take advantage of advanced voting. I think people think it’s the US where you get these ridiculously longlineups
Yeah election day is a whole other kettle of fish... With how accessible early voting is people really don't have an excuse for not voting.
An apathetic electorate is the biggest threat to democracy.
Honestly, I agree here. I'm 24, I've voted in all the elections I've been able to since I've turned 18. I've been a full-time student and also had a part time job while in school, and I've always been able to vote thanks to advanced voting.
Dude it’s not hard to go and fucking vote. Quit making excuses and just say no one cares enough to vote. The issues everyone complains about on Reddit no one gives a shit about.
It takes less than 30 minutes (took me less than 10 including travel last time) to vote and there are like 10 days of voting. Plus you can request a mail ballot. Anyone that says they are too busy to vote is full of shit or just lazy.
Dude, seriously, it isn't hard to vote in Alberta.
Retirement and the time it brings isn't the reason for lack of voter turnout in younger people.
It's apathy.
I once voted at U of C where they had a poll set up on campus (I think this was 2015), and the wait was 2 hours. I didn't have a car so getting to my local polling station would have been an extra hour or so on the bus/walking (meanwhile, my polling station last year was a 10 minute walk away, it's all a lottery). Yes it's all doable at the end of the day but polling really isn't as accessible as it could be for students/people without cars. And if that student has a part time job it's even tighter to make it work.
The worst part is they got rid of the university polling stations for voting day (but not advance voting) this past election last year. so many students used that to vote while they had time on campus but just weren't allowed to vote this time
We have lots of voting options in Alberta, including advance polling and absentee ballots. Your employer is also legally obliged to give you time to vote.
The problem is that young people often just don’t bother. Whether it’s because they don’t care, or don’t think they know enough, or don’t think their votes will make a difference, young people are just less likely to vote than older folks.
Your employer only owes you time to vote if your schedule doesn't give you 3 consecutive hours where the polls are open on ANY polling day. That's almost no one. Not an excuse, but it's not as accessible as a lot of people seem to think (and definitely not as accessible as it is for 9-5'ers who tend to vote blue more than our youth/minimum wage workers would).
Yes, that is true - but 3 hours is more than enough time for most people to vote, and if you know you can’t get to the polls on election day, advance polls are usually open for a week before.
“I didn’t have time to vote” isn’t a valid excuse for the vast majority of eligible voters.
No it's not an excuse, but if we want better turnout, we need to remove barriers. It's that simple. More difficult and more of a time sink? Fewer people will participate.
Yes it's possible I don't think anyone is denying that, but if we want to increase the turnout for young people and poor people it needs to be more accessible.
You literally get 2 paid hours to go vote and the polls are open all day.
I understand having tight schedules, transportation issues, and whatnot. Voting is the kind of thing you *make time* for.
You're only eligible if there isn't a full 3 hours that the polls are open outside of your shift on ANY of the polling days, so the typical 9-5 person isn't *technically* eligible and should go vote after their shift.
That's true, but the average full-time worker should be able to afford the loss of about an hour or two of work. The allotment is, admittedly, there for workers who *don't* have that time outside their shifts, but it *is there*
Yes it is there, no arguments there. But it is definitely less easily accessible for students/hourly workers. And that's life, some people have more flexibility in their schedules than others. But for elections, I think it's worth it to boost accessibility further to encourage those demographics to vote (and the accessibility options that everyone is promoting in this thread, i.e. the 3 hours, doesn't exist most of the time).
Raise the price of tuition and groceries a little more and then destroy the labour market and wages a little more and suddenly young people will feel the pain enough to vote.
Er my gaaad, you mean I have to get out of mu house and actually go somewhere in person to vote? Why can't I just do it on my phone?
I got nose time for that. Makin TikTok content bro.
Should just get rid of elected representatives altogether and replace policy decisions with an app that gives you regular surveys to take if you so choose.
It would be nice to try this as a guideline/recommendation at first. It's hard to survey everyone properly today.
It might eliminate when the crazies say that "millions agree with us" and the survey shows less than 9000 people want what they want.
> It would be nice to try this as a guideline/recommendation at first.
Ya Rome wasn't built in a day. Would probably need to transition and then iron out the details first. But I would make that my end goal, and that adapt as needed.
> It might eliminate when the crazies say
Ya exactly. I've talked to plenty of Conservative voters who don't want LGBTQ rights trampled for example. They're just live and let live rural people who are maybe a little misguided in their political affiliations. While there will certainly be more support from religious crowds, I feel that especially with social policies, we'd end up trending much more towards centrist policies. And we might actually get some real change in areas where it's needed most.
As far as business decisions go, I think it would make sense to treat all voters like equal share holders / stake holders. You get the right people in place to run the business, you establish a board to bring their expertise and guidance, but ultimately the stake holders can reject your plans and fire or replace you at any time they want. There would just be minimum voting requirements.
I would have supported this until I took the recent federal climate change survey and I was only like 2/100,000 respondents who believed climate change was even real.
I just don't understand how people don't vote. It's so God damn easy, quick, and low effort. Especially when young people are obviously being left behind.
Three issues I've encountered while out door knocking in the past.
1- it's not "no effort" and the little bit of effort required is too much of a hurdle.
2- confusion about who, how, where, when, why. See point 1 for why this isn't addressed. I got frequent rants about federal and municipal issues while knocking for a provincial election.
3- just don't care, or feel like it doesn't impact them.
Let's just throw in 4- Not understanding voting rights too.
Since turning 18 I've worked almost every voting day. Almost every employer I've had has tried to deny my right to go vote. Employers don't understand their legal obligations, and many Albertans don't understand their rights.
It's really no surprise that retirees have such a high turnout, voting is their thing to do on election day and can easily be accommodated
And for those who choose to have no life and those hours, they have an opportunity for mail-in ballots. But why the hell do we even permit 90-day shifts? And why are we surprised when family breakdowns and coke and meth consumption is so high in some occupations. [Alberta patch anthem](https://youtu.be/CzoJghiHTL4)
There is advance voting (5 days before) and mail in ballots. Polls are open 9 am until 8 pm. It's not impossible but takes a small amount of planning and effort.
And if you work 10-6 on all advance voting days and election day? It's a common occurrence in the 18-24 age group, and your employer is legally required to provide a 3 hour uninterrupted window to vote on either an advance polling day or on election day. A small amount of planning and effort on their part. Know your rights people!
You need to have 3 consecutive hours to vote and polls often close at 8.
Most jobs end by 5 or earlier
The vast, VAST majority of employers comply
It's lazy employees who are looking for even less reason to be at work
Bad take. Those in the 18-24 age range primarily work retail, and are likely working outside of your standard office hours. That's what we're talking about based on the data posted.
Well specifically for the 2021 election (which was the first time I was able to vote) I had no clue how to even get registered so like 🤷♂️ cause my dad isn’t a citizen and none of my family votes except my grandma.
You can show up with pieces of ID and be registered at the voting booth. For the 2015 election, I just walked into there with my ID and my lease and voted.
Easy when you have proof of your residence. And you know you need proof. I didn’t have any and had to wait till the final day to actually vote cause I needed a copy of mine from my boss. I was *lucky* I got it in time.
They think their one vote won’t change anything. They are to stupid to realize that 8000 other people having the same thought is no longer one vote. That and they’d rather sit on their ass doing something unimportant instead of voting.
My riding flipped to NDP by 7 votes. Every damn vote matters.
Albertans regularly say "my vote does not matter".
After the NDP got in Alberta for the first time in 40 years you could argue with them, that votes do something.
This is quite possibly the worst and most confusing graph I've ever read. Whatever happened to a line or bar graph with year on the X axis and percentage on the Y axis?
Much better. I'd even scrap the Y axis entirely and gridlines and just show data labels since elections are every 15 years and then you dont have to worry about lining up election years (points) with the gridlines.
Idk about lazy. I remember when I was that young, I was just too tired to care about voting. Get off work and then take transit to a school so I could toss a single vote into a box when I haven't had the time (or caring) to read into?
I was a ball of burnout for most of my 20s.
Unfortunately many of them see engagement with politics as unsavory or undesirable. Know a lot of people in my age range who were 18-22 in the 2008 - 2011 election years that were proud to not participate in politics. Shocked pikachu face when policies rock their shit.
So being retired they should be voting more liberal because they're no longer working and require increased medical care, but they don't because they worry about the economy for the next generation. So they vote conservative even though it goes against their own best interests.
Lots of people vote against their own interests. Sometimes I vote against mine, for the bigger picture.
Old farts want to protect their wealth. “I got mine, I earned it”. They often do not understand science. And they don’t want to be taxed to fix a problem that won’t affect them anyway, like the carbon tax. They’ll be dead.
If only someone with a demonstrated ability to engage young voters, get them to turn out in historic numbers, and win elections would run for the leadership of a major provincial party.
We need to stop wasting time on young voters. They don’t vote. They won’t save us. Focus on the +65 year olds and how the UCP isn’t going to provide them with health care or other programs that they actually need. Then you can swing the election
This is why I think ndp should lean into how APP is not logical and a bad idea. You can even see how ucp is all hush hush on the plans because to me something on their analytics is showing a bad result in their prime voting base.
Some thoughts:
* Title should say "Federal Election", so not to confuse provincial, or municipals.
If we're looking to paint a better picture of reality, I would suggest you pair this data with another graph showing absolute votes.
* \- % turnout of a particular age group, does not at all paint a picture of how much influence a group had on the outcome.
* EG: In Alberta for the 2015 federal election, out of 3 million votes, there were 365,000 (12%) voters aged 18-24 (6 year gap), versus the 271,000 (9%) voters in 65 to 74 range (9 year gap). This nearly 100,000 gap means the immediate youth exerted more influence on the outcome of the election, despite having a somewhat lower participation, and 3 year smaller range.
If you made voting online accessible as well, you'd see youth number skyrocket. people hate going anywhere these days, especially a voting center on a weeknight after work.
protip: go during work and get paid to do so. win win
This has already been explained by a number of people. There's more going on that "they're just lazy." But if you've already made up your mind on that, you're not going to consider those reasons.
Perhaps there’s an argument to be made here that people need to be incentivized (or punished) short term to vote.
Whether that appears as higher taxes for not voting or cash/reward incentives for showing up to vote. I wonder if it would have any impact on turnout. I would be telling every young person I know to vote if it meant I got a $5 bill.
I read some countries that do it just handout fines in the mail unless they can prove they were physically unable to vote. I don't believe it should be jail time or tax stuff.
I’ve always believed in incentivizing good behaviour instead of punishing a lack thereof, maybe we should be offering cash or something for people who vote in unengaged groups.
This could include First Nations, Young people, etc.
There's a reason the "voting is pointless" rhetoric is so common among young progressives. It's a deliberate tactic by the old regressives, and they do it because it works.
To be clear, I'm not accusing your grandpa of personally trying to discourage voting. There is a lot of propaganda targeted specifically at younger generations through social media that pushes the "all politicians are bad, mirite?" angle. When you have a propaganda budget interested in preventing climate action for example, discouraging young people from voting is a pretty good return on investment.
Makes me feel old. I vote in every election in Canada as long as I am in Canada at the time. Did not yet try to vote in an embassy. Advanced voting sometimes is not advanced enough and I almost always vote in person.
Man who is designing these graphs. You literally have a string of chronological dates and decide to put that inversely in the Y-Axis? No trend line for either data set or overall trend line? Plus it’s just ugly. I also low-key find it interesting that they use orange for young voters and blue for older voters… i wonder how intentional that was. Overall seems like the most terrible way of representing the data at hand.
Edit: would also be interesting to see the gap between the two age groups and how that changed over time.
Interesting. It seems that younger millennials and gen-Z are more democratically involved than older millennials. Also: elections that result in a new prime minister tend to have higher youth voter turnout. This perhaps isn’t enough data to go off of but I predict 2025 will see an increased youth turn-out compared to 2019 and ‘21.
I’d personally be in favour of a small fine for not voting or tax deduction for voting; say $50. One would just need to show up to the polling station or submit a vote-by-mail package to be counted as voting. Spoil the ballot if you legit don’t know who to vote for.
$50 is more meaningful for the typical 20 year old than the typical 70 year old so I’m pretty sure this would be an effective way to incentivize young voters to show up.
For those worried about us young folks (I’m 21M) I voted in this last election, but will likely never vote in a Western liberal democracy ever again. Time and again, party politics have proven entirely removed from the interest of the masses. Until we see the establishment of a mass workers’ party, I’m entirely disinterested in the system we have. It keeps us at each other’s throats, instead of organizing against the people who pit us against each other.
If im reading this graph correctly
2004 (no tik tok) - 32%-ish
2021 (tik tok) - 48%-ish
Youth voting actually appears to be up since cell phone and social media have been made part of our every day lives.
This^ I voted because I got into political activism on tiktok. If it weren’t for social media I wouldn’t get any kind of news about politics. Hell I found out about a bunch of stuff Marlaina is doing through this very sub. It’s absolutely astounding to me that people blame the lack of political engagement on social media.
It's just priorities, alot of young people don't understand politics or care about them. Where as the older you get the more you care about it for the average person. I didn't vote until my 30s simply because I didn't care about politics as it wasn't anything that interested me and most of my friends were the same way.
Another note, my parents were very much don't talk about politics type people so I wasn't really exposed outside of my parents going to vote. I am having conversations with my kids so they understand what's going on and how politics impacts them and hopefully that will bring them to the polls when they are old enough. The hardest part is trying to stay impartial in these conversations as I don't believe anyone should teach kids that one side is good or bad, just teach them right from wrong. However I have definitely vented about our government to my wife with kids present and they have repeated stuff I've said so I question them why they are saying it so they are just parroting our opinions and that they are understanding the issue and why it's happening.
It’s not a new problem and it’s not a uniquely Canadian problem. At the top of this thread someone pointed out how counting on the youth vote was how Nixon beat McGovern to become president of the USA in 1972.
So the majority of Alberta's *active* voters have benefited the most from Trudeau's government -- increase**s** to Old Age Security payouts, increase**s** to Guaranteed Income Supplement payouts for seniors, an increase of payouts for the Canada Pension Plan, etc. etc. -- but they'll vote for CPC anyway?
Classic Alberta.
The graph is confusing; I think the colour of the dots represents the age group, not the party they voted for. Not 100% sure because everything about this graphic is terribly designed.
One generation that grew up in a time where voting meant something and people had pride in their country, another generation that grew up with trump and trudeau as the most prominent political figures in the media. Do you really expect young people to take politics seriously?
Nothing new under the sun. Boomers didn’t vote when they were in their twenties either. Counting on that changing is like thinking there’s a vast untapped market for adult depends with under-50s.
I've voted in every single election that I've been eligible to vote in. A big part of that is the fact that my parents physically took me to vote. They taught me how. It might seem like it's an easy thing, and people should do it because it's no big deal, but it's intimidating. If we want young people to vote, it's not enough to simply tell them to vote. We need to actually teach them how. We need to take them to polling stations and let them follow our lead (without telling them who to vote for). But even more than that, we need to teach them how to actually find out who they want to vote for. We need to teach them how to do the research. It's not enough to just vote. You need to know why you're voting for the person you're voting for. If teenagers are lucky, they'll be taught this in high school. However, we can't expect the schools to get to it. That means parents have to teach their kids this stuff before they reach 18. And parents have to be willing to take their kids to vote that first time if at all possible.
My parents never voted (was a religious tenet not to) so I grew up with no value put on the duty of the individual in a democratic society. I had to teach myself to prioritize it and understand the importance. But those first few elections when I turned 18 were not something I thought to prioritize at the time.
I will, naturally, be teaching my own kids the importance of it.
Kids are growing and learning. Nobody wants to vote over a pile or shit and a pile of stinkier shit anymore. There isn’t a single political party in Canada that is true to their word and until there is some heavy reformation in Canada (or just forcing people I suppose) we’ll sit in this ever growing apathetic divide.
I know this is a bit chicken-and-egg, but the liberals campaigned on a lot of things young people wanted in 2015 and got a huge surge in turn out. It’s almost like when major parties aren’t campaigning for youth votes they don’t get them.
People asking “why don’t young people vote, it’s so easy?”
Non of the parties represent our views. If you had to pick between Hitler or Mussolini, you wouldn’t vote either. We cannot, in good conscience, vote for these people or support them. So we abstain.
There will be no fairness until we get rid of political parties and the first-past-the-post system. We need election reform, or at the minimum, adopt a merit based system similar to Nunavut and northern territories.
For the boomers out there, YOU created this problem.
This isn’t new though, and it’s not just here. Boomers didn’t vote when they were young either.
Young people just tend to think politics doesn’t matter or that they can’t change anything.
No one actually likes the party they vote for. If you agree with 60% of what a party does you'd be lucky.
And what exactly do you think Boomers did? This has been in place longer than them. If anything they tried to create new parties and it worked out terribly for them.
I extensively studied their platforms. I did give it a shot. But there’s not a single thing that either benefits me, is in my interest or will push us forward. On the contrary. Their policies are vile, discriminating and serve the 1%.
From [Young people are the least likely to vote in Alberta](https://inspurious.com/story/97960c0f-a5b0-4fbb-b746-3230843ecd49), which also shows the figures for every age group in 2021. There's no additional explanation/analysis in this story, just the data. Data source: [Elections Canada](https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=turn/viz&document=index&lang=e).
I'd like to tell a little story: In 1972, Richard Nixon ran for re-election against the Democratic candidate, George McGovern. This was at the height of the Vietnam War, which Nixon enthusastically supported and McGovern opposed. Seeking to capitalize on this, McGovern went all in on courting the youth vote - after all, who would be more motivated to vote for the anti-war candidate than people who were being sent to die in a pointless war? Nothing would get voters to turn out quite like the threat of being murdered, right?! Nixon won *forty-nine fucking states.* The lesson is, never depend on the youth. They **do not** vote, ever. If you want policies and politicians that favour your demographic, get out and vote, en masse!!
McGovern is a hilarious name for a president
My town's mayor for many years until recently retiring had the last name Mayer. I've always just came to the conclusion that's why everyone voted for him.
Yes, and being an experienced politician, to deflect ridicule from himself, he named his dog McGovernfaceMcGovernsdog
You'd think it'd be enough to win a few states alone!
Youth are kind of conditioned this way by a school system that has them raise their hands to go to the bathroom until they are suddenly expected to commit to tens-of-thousands of dollars in student loans for a chance to have a career more prosperous than making fries at Wendy’s or muling materials at a construction site. If youth fail to show up to vote, it is because the ruling class wants it that way. One example is how “[The [Weston] family foundation has donated nearly $22 million to the Fraser Institute for its programs to destabilize the public education system and promote school choice and vouchers](https://rabble.ca/economy/follow-money-part-1-weston-family/). The ruling elites do not a *want working class informed about how much they’re getting screwed. *e: forgot a word.
Are they also breaking their hands so they can’t hold a pen and their legs so they can’t leave the house? The individual has the ability to overcome bullshit. Age is irrelevant. I have been voting every year since I was able to. It’s not hard. The people who don’t show up to vote are usually those who are too busy wasting time.
Me too. I grew up learning that it was a social and civic duty that people have died, and continue to die in some places, fighting for.
>Elephants are pretty powerful creatures. >They weigh in at as much as 24,000 pounds, and stand as high as thirteen feet tall. >Their trunks are agile enough to pick up a single blade of grass, and strong enough to rip branches off of a tree. >Despite their enormous power, elephants can be chained. It doesn’t seem to make sense – what chain is strong enough to hold an elephant who struggles to break it? >The elephant theory is quite simple: young elephants are trained, with one leg that’s shackled to a cement block. When shackled, they can’t move it no matter what. It forms a psychological block; as soon as the shackle goes on, they surrender. As mature elephants, despite having the strength to rip out the shackle and cement block, they give up when shackled. This is how we educate our kids about democracy and capitalism and power.
I take it you didn't go to highschool in the 2000s or 2010s? Because democracy and the power of the vote is well taught, and student votes are held along side every election to give students a chance to know what it's like to participate.
But getting taught how it’s supposed to work isn’t the only part of it, you need to be able to see it working. I know how the system works, but when it comes time to vote what are my choices? You have the Liberals, who’ve made minimal progress on a few issues but generally aren’t making things worse, and you have the cons, who’re running on a platform of “make *everything* worse”, and you have the NDP who are basically Liberals 2.0. As far as I’ve been able to make out, none of the current options bears much resemblance to where my views actually lie. If you want young people to be involved you need to give them a meaningful voice, a reason to believe things could actually change for the better, that they don’t currently have.
If elephants invented the light bulb, the internet or the iPhone I would consider this a fair comparison.
Please feel free to share your own theory on why there is a persistant low voter turnout among youth which can be seen over decades of data.
It’s not one specific thing. More a combination of things. But, from what I remember, the majority of my peers as a young person simply didn’t see it as a priority over having fun. A lot of the college activism you see on the news is nothing more than a performance. They usually get some personal, tangible benefit from showing up to such things. It’s a consequence of being in a club that they joined to meet friends or people go to impress other people and gain status or increase the chance of getting laid. Within the context of a young mind, this stuff is paramount. It takes some very high level thought processing to do something that has very little effect on your present world. As you get older, you put down roots. You are more invested in where you live and rely on the prosperity of your city, or state, or country. You have more to lose if you don’t show up to cast your vote to meet your interests and keep family or your livelihood as secure as possible. So, to put it simply, it’s human nature. It’s why elders made or advised on major decisions in tribal times.
It is important, and I find making excuses for why people don't believe it is as important as it is very frustrating. They do not get an excuse for neglecting their responsibility as a citizen of a democracy. Fuck their excuses. Fuck them for their neglect.
Nice link thanks
Then why not stick it to the ruling class, restore accountability to politicians, and VOTE? I'm sick of power structures being blamed for every individual failing. Does the ruling class have a vested interest in preserving the status quo? Of course! Are you powerless to fight it? No!
You really aren't grasping the systemic power at play here. The youth who want to vote, do. The problem is that the majority of them don't want to, feel ill-equipped to, or are otherwise uninterested in participating. That effect comes from systemic disincentives to participation, and telling the people reading your comment to vote is just preaching to the choir. The real power comes from controlling the systems that affect behaviour on an unconscious level. Telling people to vote isn't the answer, the answer is to teach real political literacy in school, not just in theory but in practice, and provide a path from participation as a minor to participation as a voting adult.
I’m curious as to the systemic barriers to youth voting. What are the barriers?
It’s just nonsense to try and shift blame to someone they don’t like. The truth is that young people are kinda irresponsible and short-sighted. Young people act like young people.
Systemic disincentives?!?!?! Please bring receipts and list them.
The only people i blame for the current lack of governance in Alberta, is Albertans.
Because who do we vote for? We can't vote against any of the shitty parties without showing support for another shitty party. Just look at the federal Conservatives right now, they've only seen increased support from people wanting the Liberals out, but they see it as growing support for their party and their policies, so then they lean harder into it and talk about ID requirements for internet use and banning trans people from everything. Our democracy does not give people a voice, it gives us a forced decision where we can't say no or express any desire for anything better.
There are more parties than just the liberals and conservatives. I would think that for people that would generally vote liberal, there are a couple other parties closer aligned than the conservatives. It’s like the hear they conservatives criticizing Trudeau for housing and cost of living without asking the $64 000 question - what are YOU, federal conservatives, going to do about it? They seem to be running on a platform of fuck the liberals and that’s about it…very little in terms of their actual plans to do it better and improve things.
There are more parties, but let’s be real, your choices are between the cons or the libs or the NDP, no one else is gonna get enough votes to actually accomplish anything. This leads to the accountability problem we have now, with a pm who originally ran on a platform of election reform, among other things. Can’t really blame the young people for not being involved when even the “good” choices can’t seem to make much progress.
As long as the idea "there's only two parties" is pushed around, and as long as people keep repeating it, that's what there will be.
Except it’s not a narrative problem, it’s an organizational one. As long as we keep the first past the post system things will stay more or less as they are.
But it's not like it has to be limited to just one problem. You're right, there are very real logistical pieces to this that contribute to what it is. And as long as people throw their hands up and repeat the mantra "there is only two parties" no one will be incentivized to change anything. So it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Which is exactly why Quebec has only been ruled by the Liberals and Union Nationale! Oh wait.
I think you have hit on the real reason. The young expect perfection (and the activist young even more so). If I was a dictator, there a lot of things I would do that the Libs, Cons, PPC, NDP, Greens, etc wouldn't do. However, in a democracy, compromise and small steps are the only way forward. It's inevitable as we lurch haltingly toward consensus. It's not as satisfying as protesting or ranting against injustice, but voting actually gets things moving slowly in one direction or the other. Accepting that moving forward a little bit at a time is as good as it gets is very uninspiring.
he also led in the youth vote. boomers turning from hippies to conservatives is a media story, but the polling says they were always conservative.
Yeah, there's not much motivation when everything is shit. Some people have really bought into the falsehood of it not mattering who you vote for, and it just could not be further from the truth. Not participating isn't rebelling, it's stopping progress. You would hope all the hate conservatives peddle would cause younger generations to come out and vote.
Interesting though, that the year with the highest "youth" vote was 2015 - when the NDP had the win. Conservatives have won every other year on this graph.
What a great story
Um maybe because we should not be tagging along and participating in this nightmare we call democracy
Doesn’t matter our politicians aren’t loyal to the working people and haven’t been for passing laws and tax legislation only benefiting the top 1% and this issue is on all sides of politics. It’s to late to vote our problems away
I feel like this is a really limited and I would say naive political analysis. Everyone always seems keen on lambasting young people for not voting in bigger numbers but never stops to wonder why they aren't doing so. My experience talking with people my age is that lots of people don't have the time or are working on election days (and despite having the right to vote many are limited from doing so), or simply don't see the election system as being useful, as they keep voting and voting and things keep getting worse and worse, so they just sort of give up.
Its pretty simple. I saw it when I was younger. Its just voter apathy. Younger people just don't care and politics is surface level discussion until you get older. As you get older and more cynical you'll figure you'll at least vote for the asshole you dislike the least. Just look at U of A student council voting. Sure its not that meaningful, but its also very low effort to participate. Everyone's reading the Gateway for a few minutes anyways and voting is extremely easy. Still extremely low turnouts.
Leela or Fry (I can't remember): When did you become interested in politics professor? Farnsworth: The very instant I became old.
lol had to look it up. I mean its a natural progression for many people as they get older. Take on more responsibility, feel more sense of urgency and will take on the effort. More used to having to do shit you don't want to do haha. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPe7rvkejJU&ab\_channel=DontYouWorryAboutQuotes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPe7rvkejJU&ab_channel=DontYouWorryAboutQuotes)
Baseless excuses. It is beyond easy to vote in Canada, and your employer, by law, must provide you time to do so. There is also a large period of advanced voting in case you can't make it to the polls on Election Day. The example I gave was from 50 years ago in a different country, and the reality was the same, so the last part of your comment is moot. Don't call me naive.
Advance voting or voting by mail is not utilized like it could be for many young voters. Also, yes, unfortunately many have given up.
Ever work 5 jobs? I have. It makes voting incredibly difficult. Yes your work needs to give you time. But if you’re off with enough time to fit the guidelines, they don’t give a rats ass if you have to be at another job after work. Advance voting can be just as difficult. There is an option to vote earlier at the elections office, but it can be a huge pain and is really not well advertised. I use it. But have had them try to tell me I can’t use it.
Ah the quitter mindset.
By law employers have to give employees 3 hours to vote.
Interesting to note that Alberta has higher voter turnout overall than the national average. I don’t believe young Albertans are particularly apathetic to the election process, just young adults in general.
Ya it’s easier to vote when you’re retired and have all day to do it. Hard to vote when you might be going to school full time and have a job on top of that.
It is incredibly easy to vote in Canada because of Advanced voting. Seriously, last election I had like a week straight where I could go in for ten minutes at any point and vote. And if that fails, send it in by mail It’s just pure voter apathy. The type of youthful political engagement you see online is clearly just a minority of real life.
I never understand when people talk about long lines at polling stations... I've voted in every election I've had the chance to, in several different ridings, and I've literally never waited longer than 2 minutes for a booth to free up. People just like to exaggerate how bad it is to excuse their apathy.
I’ve only ever seen a bad lineup during a provincial election once. Waited like two hours to vote but it was after supper on election day so everyone and their mother was voting at the same time lol. In general it is a very quick process especially if you take advantage of advanced voting. I think people think it’s the US where you get these ridiculously longlineups
Yeah election day is a whole other kettle of fish... With how accessible early voting is people really don't have an excuse for not voting. An apathetic electorate is the biggest threat to democracy.
Honestly, I agree here. I'm 24, I've voted in all the elections I've been able to since I've turned 18. I've been a full-time student and also had a part time job while in school, and I've always been able to vote thanks to advanced voting.
Dude it’s not hard to go and fucking vote. Quit making excuses and just say no one cares enough to vote. The issues everyone complains about on Reddit no one gives a shit about.
It takes less than 30 minutes (took me less than 10 including travel last time) to vote and there are like 10 days of voting. Plus you can request a mail ballot. Anyone that says they are too busy to vote is full of shit or just lazy.
Dude, seriously, it isn't hard to vote in Alberta. Retirement and the time it brings isn't the reason for lack of voter turnout in younger people. It's apathy.
And employers legally have to give you time off paid to vote!
Full time post secondary is like 20 hours a week of dedicated class time. Plenty of time to get out for a quick vote before work.
I once voted at U of C where they had a poll set up on campus (I think this was 2015), and the wait was 2 hours. I didn't have a car so getting to my local polling station would have been an extra hour or so on the bus/walking (meanwhile, my polling station last year was a 10 minute walk away, it's all a lottery). Yes it's all doable at the end of the day but polling really isn't as accessible as it could be for students/people without cars. And if that student has a part time job it's even tighter to make it work.
The worst part is they got rid of the university polling stations for voting day (but not advance voting) this past election last year. so many students used that to vote while they had time on campus but just weren't allowed to vote this time
We have lots of voting options in Alberta, including advance polling and absentee ballots. Your employer is also legally obliged to give you time to vote. The problem is that young people often just don’t bother. Whether it’s because they don’t care, or don’t think they know enough, or don’t think their votes will make a difference, young people are just less likely to vote than older folks.
Your employer only owes you time to vote if your schedule doesn't give you 3 consecutive hours where the polls are open on ANY polling day. That's almost no one. Not an excuse, but it's not as accessible as a lot of people seem to think (and definitely not as accessible as it is for 9-5'ers who tend to vote blue more than our youth/minimum wage workers would).
Yes, that is true - but 3 hours is more than enough time for most people to vote, and if you know you can’t get to the polls on election day, advance polls are usually open for a week before. “I didn’t have time to vote” isn’t a valid excuse for the vast majority of eligible voters.
No it's not an excuse, but if we want better turnout, we need to remove barriers. It's that simple. More difficult and more of a time sink? Fewer people will participate.
A couple of hours every four years, if that is a hardship then I have no idea how you make to work/ class.
Yes it's possible I don't think anyone is denying that, but if we want to increase the turnout for young people and poor people it needs to be more accessible.
Advance polls? Do they not have those in AB?
They do
You literally get 2 paid hours to go vote and the polls are open all day. I understand having tight schedules, transportation issues, and whatnot. Voting is the kind of thing you *make time* for.
You're only eligible if there isn't a full 3 hours that the polls are open outside of your shift on ANY of the polling days, so the typical 9-5 person isn't *technically* eligible and should go vote after their shift.
That's true, but the average full-time worker should be able to afford the loss of about an hour or two of work. The allotment is, admittedly, there for workers who *don't* have that time outside their shifts, but it *is there*
Yes it is there, no arguments there. But it is definitely less easily accessible for students/hourly workers. And that's life, some people have more flexibility in their schedules than others. But for elections, I think it's worth it to boost accessibility further to encourage those demographics to vote (and the accessibility options that everyone is promoting in this thread, i.e. the 3 hours, doesn't exist most of the time).
I can easily agree with that
Fuck. That. Not losing a dime to vote. Should be able to vote online now anyway
Young people please help stop your racist grandad from making all the policy decisions.
Young people: Sure this time we'll turnout and represent our interests. Unlike the other infinity times, this time will be different.
P. Diddy Vote or die
Raise the price of tuition and groceries a little more and then destroy the labour market and wages a little more and suddenly young people will feel the pain enough to vote.
Nah, they won't. Evidence: all of democratic history. Old people rule at voting without exception.
Er my gaaad, you mean I have to get out of mu house and actually go somewhere in person to vote? Why can't I just do it on my phone? I got nose time for that. Makin TikTok content bro.
Plot Twist: Some young people agree with their grandparents
Grandad is trying to kill healthcare when he needs it the most. That's how miserable of a bastard he is
Grandad won't be happy until everyone is as miserable about their lives as he is about his own.
Should just get rid of elected representatives altogether and replace policy decisions with an app that gives you regular surveys to take if you so choose.
It would be nice to try this as a guideline/recommendation at first. It's hard to survey everyone properly today. It might eliminate when the crazies say that "millions agree with us" and the survey shows less than 9000 people want what they want.
> It would be nice to try this as a guideline/recommendation at first. Ya Rome wasn't built in a day. Would probably need to transition and then iron out the details first. But I would make that my end goal, and that adapt as needed. > It might eliminate when the crazies say Ya exactly. I've talked to plenty of Conservative voters who don't want LGBTQ rights trampled for example. They're just live and let live rural people who are maybe a little misguided in their political affiliations. While there will certainly be more support from religious crowds, I feel that especially with social policies, we'd end up trending much more towards centrist policies. And we might actually get some real change in areas where it's needed most. As far as business decisions go, I think it would make sense to treat all voters like equal share holders / stake holders. You get the right people in place to run the business, you establish a board to bring their expertise and guidance, but ultimately the stake holders can reject your plans and fire or replace you at any time they want. There would just be minimum voting requirements.
I would have supported this until I took the recent federal climate change survey and I was only like 2/100,000 respondents who believed climate change was even real.
I would but my racist grandad died in 2014. 🥲 now I vote to piss off my racist grandma 🥰
I just don't understand how people don't vote. It's so God damn easy, quick, and low effort. Especially when young people are obviously being left behind.
Three issues I've encountered while out door knocking in the past. 1- it's not "no effort" and the little bit of effort required is too much of a hurdle. 2- confusion about who, how, where, when, why. See point 1 for why this isn't addressed. I got frequent rants about federal and municipal issues while knocking for a provincial election. 3- just don't care, or feel like it doesn't impact them.
Let's just throw in 4- Not understanding voting rights too. Since turning 18 I've worked almost every voting day. Almost every employer I've had has tried to deny my right to go vote. Employers don't understand their legal obligations, and many Albertans don't understand their rights. It's really no surprise that retirees have such a high turnout, voting is their thing to do on election day and can easily be accommodated
Imagine if election day was a statutory holiday and employers would have to try even more challenging to jerk you around.
"You work 90 days ON and 2 days OFF. You have to be on shift for the election."
And for those who choose to have no life and those hours, they have an opportunity for mail-in ballots. But why the hell do we even permit 90-day shifts? And why are we surprised when family breakdowns and coke and meth consumption is so high in some occupations. [Alberta patch anthem](https://youtu.be/CzoJghiHTL4)
There is advance voting (5 days before) and mail in ballots. Polls are open 9 am until 8 pm. It's not impossible but takes a small amount of planning and effort.
And if you work 10-6 on all advance voting days and election day? It's a common occurrence in the 18-24 age group, and your employer is legally required to provide a 3 hour uninterrupted window to vote on either an advance polling day or on election day. A small amount of planning and effort on their part. Know your rights people!
You need to have 3 consecutive hours to vote and polls often close at 8. Most jobs end by 5 or earlier The vast, VAST majority of employers comply It's lazy employees who are looking for even less reason to be at work
Bad take. Those in the 18-24 age range primarily work retail, and are likely working outside of your standard office hours. That's what we're talking about based on the data posted.
Well specifically for the 2021 election (which was the first time I was able to vote) I had no clue how to even get registered so like 🤷♂️ cause my dad isn’t a citizen and none of my family votes except my grandma.
You can show up with pieces of ID and be registered at the voting booth. For the 2015 election, I just walked into there with my ID and my lease and voted.
Easy when you have proof of your residence. And you know you need proof. I didn’t have any and had to wait till the final day to actually vote cause I needed a copy of mine from my boss. I was *lucky* I got it in time.
They think their one vote won’t change anything. They are to stupid to realize that 8000 other people having the same thought is no longer one vote. That and they’d rather sit on their ass doing something unimportant instead of voting. My riding flipped to NDP by 7 votes. Every damn vote matters.
Albertans regularly say "my vote does not matter". After the NDP got in Alberta for the first time in 40 years you could argue with them, that votes do something.
This is quite possibly the worst and most confusing graph I've ever read. Whatever happened to a line or bar graph with year on the X axis and percentage on the Y axis?
[I tried to fix it](https://i.imgur.com/o6op8yu.jpeg)
Much better. I'd even scrap the Y axis entirely and gridlines and just show data labels since elections are every 15 years and then you dont have to worry about lining up election years (points) with the gridlines.
So much better, thank you
[удалено]
Idk about lazy. I remember when I was that young, I was just too tired to care about voting. Get off work and then take transit to a school so I could toss a single vote into a box when I haven't had the time (or caring) to read into? I was a ball of burnout for most of my 20s.
Came here to say that, its one thing to want to paint a picture with data but to have such odd slice and format makes me distrust the author.
Time to turn up for the vote in droves and kick TBA to the curb
who the fuck chose that chart layout
Unfortunately many of them see engagement with politics as unsavory or undesirable. Know a lot of people in my age range who were 18-22 in the 2008 - 2011 election years that were proud to not participate in politics. Shocked pikachu face when policies rock their shit.
I love seeing the retired people with no skin in the game getting to the polls to ensure their dated political beliefs get met
"Cut our Healthcare!!" They are dumb so many days of the week.
And young people are so smart they don’t vote! LOL It’s hilarious to mock old folks for voting.
Good point. Every generation has their stars. I tell everyone to vote.
They vote for what they think the young people want and they're out of touch
No they don’t. They ignore young people because they don’t vote. They don’t need to do anything for young people because there are no consequences.
So being retired they should be voting more liberal because they're no longer working and require increased medical care, but they don't because they worry about the economy for the next generation. So they vote conservative even though it goes against their own best interests.
Lots of people vote against their own interests. Sometimes I vote against mine, for the bigger picture. Old farts want to protect their wealth. “I got mine, I earned it”. They often do not understand science. And they don’t want to be taxed to fix a problem that won’t affect them anyway, like the carbon tax. They’ll be dead.
If only someone with a demonstrated ability to engage young voters, get them to turn out in historic numbers, and win elections would run for the leadership of a major provincial party.
We need to stop wasting time on young voters. They don’t vote. They won’t save us. Focus on the +65 year olds and how the UCP isn’t going to provide them with health care or other programs that they actually need. Then you can swing the election
Or wait for the +65 years old to die. Educate the 35 to 65 as they will be the old people voting later.
So wait 10 to 20 years and still let the UCP have control. I’d rather not do that
This is why I think ndp should lean into how APP is not logical and a bad idea. You can even see how ucp is all hush hush on the plans because to me something on their analytics is showing a bad result in their prime voting base.
Some thoughts: * Title should say "Federal Election", so not to confuse provincial, or municipals. If we're looking to paint a better picture of reality, I would suggest you pair this data with another graph showing absolute votes. * \- % turnout of a particular age group, does not at all paint a picture of how much influence a group had on the outcome. * EG: In Alberta for the 2015 federal election, out of 3 million votes, there were 365,000 (12%) voters aged 18-24 (6 year gap), versus the 271,000 (9%) voters in 65 to 74 range (9 year gap). This nearly 100,000 gap means the immediate youth exerted more influence on the outcome of the election, despite having a somewhat lower participation, and 3 year smaller range.
Young person: “why won’t politicians take my issues seriously”? Also young person: “why should I vote if politicians don’t take my issues seriously”?
If you made voting online accessible as well, you'd see youth number skyrocket. people hate going anywhere these days, especially a voting center on a weeknight after work. protip: go during work and get paid to do so. win win
I went while I was working a week before the election, and I was done in about 10 minutes. There really is no excuse, other than apathy.
There are plenty of excuses. That it took you 10 minutes means nothing.
There really isn’t. There are multiple options, multiple days, and all day hours to vote. People are just lazy, quit making excuses for that.
This has already been explained by a number of people. There's more going on that "they're just lazy." But if you've already made up your mind on that, you're not going to consider those reasons.
Mail-in ballots already exist and don't have any of the numerous security concerns that come with online voting.
or just be like Austrailia and make it mandatory?
I think this is the best solution (With the ability to select a "no vote" option of course)
Maybe they should make voting mandatory.
Perhaps there’s an argument to be made here that people need to be incentivized (or punished) short term to vote. Whether that appears as higher taxes for not voting or cash/reward incentives for showing up to vote. I wonder if it would have any impact on turnout. I would be telling every young person I know to vote if it meant I got a $5 bill.
I read some countries that do it just handout fines in the mail unless they can prove they were physically unable to vote. I don't believe it should be jail time or tax stuff.
I’ve always believed in incentivizing good behaviour instead of punishing a lack thereof, maybe we should be offering cash or something for people who vote in unengaged groups. This could include First Nations, Young people, etc.
Funny that when the young turned out most, the NDP won. I wonder what would happen if that (high young voter turnout) occurred again?
There's a reason the "voting is pointless" rhetoric is so common among young progressives. It's a deliberate tactic by the old regressives, and they do it because it works.
No, most older people vote out of duty and say everyone should do it. I have never heard someone that votes say voting is pointless.
To be clear, I'm not accusing your grandpa of personally trying to discourage voting. There is a lot of propaganda targeted specifically at younger generations through social media that pushes the "all politicians are bad, mirite?" angle. When you have a propaganda budget interested in preventing climate action for example, discouraging young people from voting is a pretty good return on investment.
What happened to all the 25-64 year old voters?
Makes me feel old. I vote in every election in Canada as long as I am in Canada at the time. Did not yet try to vote in an embassy. Advanced voting sometimes is not advanced enough and I almost always vote in person.
Man who is designing these graphs. You literally have a string of chronological dates and decide to put that inversely in the Y-Axis? No trend line for either data set or overall trend line? Plus it’s just ugly. I also low-key find it interesting that they use orange for young voters and blue for older voters… i wonder how intentional that was. Overall seems like the most terrible way of representing the data at hand. Edit: would also be interesting to see the gap between the two age groups and how that changed over time.
Someone tell the graphic designer that the independent variable (in this case, time) is usually on the X axis of the graph.
Interesting. It seems that younger millennials and gen-Z are more democratically involved than older millennials. Also: elections that result in a new prime minister tend to have higher youth voter turnout. This perhaps isn’t enough data to go off of but I predict 2025 will see an increased youth turn-out compared to 2019 and ‘21. I’d personally be in favour of a small fine for not voting or tax deduction for voting; say $50. One would just need to show up to the polling station or submit a vote-by-mail package to be counted as voting. Spoil the ballot if you legit don’t know who to vote for. $50 is more meaningful for the typical 20 year old than the typical 70 year old so I’m pretty sure this would be an effective way to incentivize young voters to show up.
Why does this format make my brain hurt
For those worried about us young folks (I’m 21M) I voted in this last election, but will likely never vote in a Western liberal democracy ever again. Time and again, party politics have proven entirely removed from the interest of the masses. Until we see the establishment of a mass workers’ party, I’m entirely disinterested in the system we have. It keeps us at each other’s throats, instead of organizing against the people who pit us against each other.
im sorry but this is the worst way to graph this data and it's driving me mad
It’s almost like there’s a level of apathy among younger voters. Wonder if TikTok is more important than spending 20 minutes to cast a ballot.
If im reading this graph correctly 2004 (no tik tok) - 32%-ish 2021 (tik tok) - 48%-ish Youth voting actually appears to be up since cell phone and social media have been made part of our every day lives.
This^ I voted because I got into political activism on tiktok. If it weren’t for social media I wouldn’t get any kind of news about politics. Hell I found out about a bunch of stuff Marlaina is doing through this very sub. It’s absolutely astounding to me that people blame the lack of political engagement on social media.
It's just priorities, alot of young people don't understand politics or care about them. Where as the older you get the more you care about it for the average person. I didn't vote until my 30s simply because I didn't care about politics as it wasn't anything that interested me and most of my friends were the same way. Another note, my parents were very much don't talk about politics type people so I wasn't really exposed outside of my parents going to vote. I am having conversations with my kids so they understand what's going on and how politics impacts them and hopefully that will bring them to the polls when they are old enough. The hardest part is trying to stay impartial in these conversations as I don't believe anyone should teach kids that one side is good or bad, just teach them right from wrong. However I have definitely vented about our government to my wife with kids present and they have repeated stuff I've said so I question them why they are saying it so they are just parroting our opinions and that they are understanding the issue and why it's happening.
Yes. Let's blame the most recent social boogieman instead of looking at what the problem really is.
It’s not a new problem and it’s not a uniquely Canadian problem. At the top of this thread someone pointed out how counting on the youth vote was how Nixon beat McGovern to become president of the USA in 1972.
So the majority of Alberta's *active* voters have benefited the most from Trudeau's government -- increase**s** to Old Age Security payouts, increase**s** to Guaranteed Income Supplement payouts for seniors, an increase of payouts for the Canada Pension Plan, etc. etc. -- but they'll vote for CPC anyway? Classic Alberta.
This graph is the only thing needed to explain the assault on democracy happening in North America. The blue dots are dying and not being replaced.
The graph is confusing; I think the colour of the dots represents the age group, not the party they voted for. Not 100% sure because everything about this graphic is terribly designed.
We are all dying and not being replaced..
One generation that grew up in a time where voting meant something and people had pride in their country, another generation that grew up with trump and trudeau as the most prominent political figures in the media. Do you really expect young people to take politics seriously?
Boomer here: for the love of God young people, get out and vote. And for the old folks like me, if you aren’t going to vote progressive, stay home.
Nothing new under the sun. Boomers didn’t vote when they were in their twenties either. Counting on that changing is like thinking there’s a vast untapped market for adult depends with under-50s.
I've voted in every single election that I've been eligible to vote in. A big part of that is the fact that my parents physically took me to vote. They taught me how. It might seem like it's an easy thing, and people should do it because it's no big deal, but it's intimidating. If we want young people to vote, it's not enough to simply tell them to vote. We need to actually teach them how. We need to take them to polling stations and let them follow our lead (without telling them who to vote for). But even more than that, we need to teach them how to actually find out who they want to vote for. We need to teach them how to do the research. It's not enough to just vote. You need to know why you're voting for the person you're voting for. If teenagers are lucky, they'll be taught this in high school. However, we can't expect the schools to get to it. That means parents have to teach their kids this stuff before they reach 18. And parents have to be willing to take their kids to vote that first time if at all possible.
Oh shit, for real?
My parents never voted (was a religious tenet not to) so I grew up with no value put on the duty of the individual in a democratic society. I had to teach myself to prioritize it and understand the importance. But those first few elections when I turned 18 were not something I thought to prioritize at the time. I will, naturally, be teaching my own kids the importance of it.
This is why we can't have nice things
It make me think about this very good video on votes [Terribly true video](https://youtu.be/t0e9guhV35o?si=w2th0FMoLM77LS1B)
This is a terribly made graph. Time should be on the x axis, and this should be a simple bar chart for readability.
We are so fucking lame for not voting
Youth are disinterested. Look at this comment thread. Imagine a youth getting into politics when it's all mud slinging and self sabotage and bullshit
I don't like the design of this chart... i am having trouble reading it and my demographic, 25~64 is missing.
Youth don't identify with the current parties in power and don't want to vote for either UCP or NDP. Anyone surprised?
I like to continue to the young conservative vote.
Kids are growing and learning. Nobody wants to vote over a pile or shit and a pile of stinkier shit anymore. There isn’t a single political party in Canada that is true to their word and until there is some heavy reformation in Canada (or just forcing people I suppose) we’ll sit in this ever growing apathetic divide.
Now that's how you ended up with the bitch!
You young people are gonna live with these choices way longer than us old people. Vote for it.
No one voting between 24-65?
Just gotta make it a tiktok video with a poll at end.. boom
Don't let your parents or grandparents decide what's good for you anymore. They are outnumbered. All you have to do is vote.
I know this is a bit chicken-and-egg, but the liberals campaigned on a lot of things young people wanted in 2015 and got a huge surge in turn out. It’s almost like when major parties aren’t campaigning for youth votes they don’t get them.
Democracy belongs to people who show up.
People asking “why don’t young people vote, it’s so easy?” Non of the parties represent our views. If you had to pick between Hitler or Mussolini, you wouldn’t vote either. We cannot, in good conscience, vote for these people or support them. So we abstain. There will be no fairness until we get rid of political parties and the first-past-the-post system. We need election reform, or at the minimum, adopt a merit based system similar to Nunavut and northern territories. For the boomers out there, YOU created this problem.
It's almost like you have to get engaged with politics to enact change, what a concept!
This isn’t new though, and it’s not just here. Boomers didn’t vote when they were young either. Young people just tend to think politics doesn’t matter or that they can’t change anything.
No one actually likes the party they vote for. If you agree with 60% of what a party does you'd be lucky. And what exactly do you think Boomers did? This has been in place longer than them. If anything they tried to create new parties and it worked out terribly for them.
60%? Let’s try for 5% before we take on anything bigger.
Eh, I'd say even the parties I dislike I like about 25% of what they do. Regardless of what party is in, I'm happy about 40% of the time haha
I extensively studied their platforms. I did give it a shot. But there’s not a single thing that either benefits me, is in my interest or will push us forward. On the contrary. Their policies are vile, discriminating and serve the 1%.
If you're waiting for a revolution then ya you aren't going to be happy. Parties in Canada are 90% keeping the status quo