Survey reveals high student interest in next year’s election

A survey has revealed that almost three quarters of students are interested in next year’s election.

Research into students and the UK general election led by youth insights consultancy Voxburner looked at how engaged young people are with politics and politicians.

Among participants 72 percent were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ interested in next year’s UK general election.

The survey also looked at the influence of the university experience on political views and found that 67 percent of students thought that their views changed since starting university and are uninfluenced by their parents.

One fifth of students follow at least one politician on Twitter and a third still turn to newspapers to keep up to date with politics.

When asked which political leader they would most like to share a Nando’s with, students chose David Cameron out of the main party leaders and Boris Johnson when asked as an open question.

One fifth of respondents are very likely to watch the televised leader debates, while a further 36 percent are quite likely to watch them.

On a weekly basis, 15 percent of UK students have a keen interest in politics, but this increases in the run-up to elections.

Edyta Wanic, a postgraduate journalism international student who could not vote in the UK, said: “I am personally interested in politics […] if I could I would vote.”

She also said that she does have political preferences but does not have a firm allegiance with one political party.

“I do not believe that university changed my views on whom or how to vote. I think I am more influenced by my relatives’ views […] They do not influence how I vote but definitely draw my attention to different problems and arguments that I take into account when voting.”

Perceived disengagement amongst young people is often defined by their lack of allegiance to any particular party.

45 percent of students don’t identify with a particular political party, a quarter feel closest to Labour, 10 percent follow the Conversatives, 8 percent follow the Green Party and 6 percent follow the Liberal Democrats.

Sarah Marr, a French Studies finalist, said: “I am really not at all interested in politics, but I do vote. I tend to ask my mum about who to vote for and follow her advice.”

Luke Mitchell, Head of Insights at Voxburner, said: “We often hear that young people are disengaged from politics and that politicians should concentrate their efforts elsewhere.

“Students have shown they have a distinctive set of issues they care about, with tuition fees and employment prospects at the top of them. With so many students expecting to cast their vote next year, politicians would be foolish to ignore the potential.”

The survey was conducted by Voxburner between April 30 and May 27 2014 and 1,072 UK students took part.