Young People and Politics: Political Engagement in the Anglo-American Democracies

This book examines young people’s political engagement in the Anglo-American democracies.

It is often alleged that young people are disengaged from politics on a number of levels. The commonly held view is that young people don’t vote, they do not trust politicians and have low levels of political interest. But is this true, where is it true and to what extent? Examining voter turnout, political trust, political interest, electoral and non-electoral forms of participation and Internet use, this book provides a comprehensive account of young people’s political engagement in the US, Britain, Canada and Australia. In doing so this book challenges the conventional wisdom on a number of fronts by showing young people’s political engagement to be much more complicated than many of the stereotypes suggest (in both good and bad ways).In this way, this book provides a report card on young people’s political engagement in the twenty-first century.

Young People and Politics will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, comparative politics, public policy and sociology, particularly those with a focus on young people and politics, political participation and public opinion.

This book examines young people,s political engagement in the Anglo-American democracies. It is often alleged that young people are disengaged from politics on a number of levels. The commonly held view is that young people don,t vote, they do not trust politicians and have low levels of political interest. But is this true, where is it true and to what extent? Examining voter turnout, political trust, political interest, electoral and non-electoral forms of participation and Internet use, this book provides a comprehensive account of young people,s political engagement in the US, Britain, Canada and Australia. In doing so this book challenges the conventional wisdom on a number of fronts by showing young people,s political engagement to be much more complicated than many of the stereotypes suggest (in both good and bad ways).In this way, this book provides a report card on young people,s political engagement in the twenty-first century. Young People and Politics will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, comparative politics, public policy and sociology, particularly those with a focus on young people and politics, political participation and public opinion.

List of figures		xi
Acknowledgements		xiii
Introduction		1	(18)
PART I Voter turnout		19	(18)
1 Is turnout declining among the young?		21	(16)
PART II Political attitudes		37	(30)
2 Political trust: the not particularly less trusting young		39	(16)
3 Political interest among the young		55	(12)
PART III Political participation beyond voting		67	(52)
4 Electoral engagement: a disengaged youth		69	(18)
5 Non-electoral forms of participation: a brighter picture?		87	(15)
6 The Internet: emerging new forms of participation		102	(17)
PART IV What can be done?		119	(16)
7 Policy reforms		121	(14)
Conclusion		135	(9)
Appendix: note on data sources and analysis		144	(2)
Notes		146	(3)
Bibliography		149	(15)
Index		164

Aaron J. Martin is a Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia.