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Survey of Electors Following the40th General Election


X. Youth Focus

The youth oversample consisted of those at least 18 years of age on election day (October 14, 2008) and up to 24 years of age. In terms of employment status, 54 percent report that they are working and a further 37% that they are a student. However, when asked directly if they are a student a further 22 percent reported that they are, bringing the total who report that they are a student to 59 percent. It is possible that a portion of the additional students study part-time or are employed and in response to the employment status question think of themselves as employed more than as a student.

The majority (59%) of youth report that at the time of the election they continued to live at home with either or both parents and among those who define their employment status as a student, 69 percent lived at home. This is the same as the two thirds (67%) who report being students who lived at home at the time of the election. Even among those who reported working, half (53%) report that they lived at home, although fewer of those working live at home compared with students. While a portion of students, if they live away from home, live on campus, the survey failed to identify any respondents in this situation. This highlights the difficulty of surveying students living on campus where there may be a general university number and with extensions for individual student rooms.

Finally in terms of background factors one-in-five students report that they are an active member of a student association. Unfortunately this proportion is too small for any further meaningful analysis.

A. Voting Behaviour

As seen earlier, youth participation and involvement in the electoral process is lower than found among the general population, with 63 percent compared with 73 percent among the public overall reporting that they voted in the 2008 federal general election. There are a number of background factors that appear to be associated with voting. The most important appears to be living at home. In all, 70 percent of those living with a parent or parents report voting compared with 53 percent among those not living with their parents (a difference of 17 percentage points). Presumably, the social environment of the home where parents may vote is conducive to younger people being encouraged to vote, even though they do not vote at the level of their parents' generation. The fact that a majority of youth live at home indicates that a large number are in an environment that is more conducive to voting than not voting. Once away from home, the lack of those supports is in many instances enough to dampen voting behaviour. The implication here is that further efforts will be required to reach youth who are outside the home environment. Such outreach could be directed to places where youth congregate, such as bars or clubs, and through the communication channels youth are likely to use, including digital media.

B. Students and Non-Students

While living at home compared to not at home is significantly correlated with voting behaviour, being a student also appears to be linked to voting behaviour, but on closer examination this is not the case.

Using the broader question (Are you currently a student?) 62 percent of students report voting compared with 55 percent of non-students. The difference is more dramatic when the narrower definition using the employment status question is used. In this instance, 71% of students reported voting, compared with 59% of non-students, and compared with 62% among those who reported working. However when living at home is used as a control variable, then, in fact, it is living at home that explains the difference, in student/non-student voting behaviour, and not being a student. Both students and non-students living at home are more likely to report voting in 2008 than students and non-students living away from home. It only seems that students are more likely to vote, because somewhat more of them live at home than non-students and those living at home are more likely to vote. This confirms the fundamental issue of finding new ways of reaching out to youth living outside the family home.

Students, relative to non-students, are also somewhat more likely to report an interest in politics (76% versus 70%) and to have followed the 2008 election at least somewhat closely (62% versus 55%). As noted earlier in this report, both these factors are quite strongly associated with voting, but do not appear to translate into greater likelihood among students. Once again, this reinforces the need to focus on new ways of reaching youth.

Voting behaviour of students/non-students and living with parents status
  Students Non-students
Living at home Not at home Living at home Not at home
n = 199 97 95 109
% % % %
Yes 71 56 67 51
No/not aware of election 29 44 33 49

C. Best Ways to Encourage Youth to Vote

The survey included questions to help understand what could be done to encourage youth voting. Two suggestions in particular focus on identifying and discussing issues relevant to youth and engaging students more through schools, both in terms of a focus on the responsibility to vote and on building awareness, engagement and involvement in the political process and political issues.

There is no absence of suggestions for encouraging youth to vote, both from youth and the public overall, and a good deal of agreement regarding the activities proposed. As in the case of Aboriginal Canadians, these can be divided into suggestions regarding the electoral process and the political process. The suggestions from both youth and adults include getting students engaged by discussing issues relevant to them as well as providing more information and advertising on the importance of voting, better education and by meeting with them through forums or elections in school. There were also suggestions regarding the use of technology both to engage and reach youth through social media and on-line voting.

Encouraging youth to vote
Youth All Canadians
2006 2008 2006 2008
n = 500 500 3,013 2,500
% % % %
Discuss issues relevant to them/get them interested 23 15 19 16
Inform them/more advertising/more awareness/stress how important it is 9 15 9 16
Better education/education in schools/get involved at school level 26 5 26 15
Meet with them/hold forums/elections in school/campaign on campuses 2 10 2 10
Better leaders/better candidates/sensible people to run/variety of candidates/more honest politicians 4 12 4 9
Reach them via Internet/MSN/Facebook 9 3
On-line voting/allow Internet vote 2 3 2 4
Make it mandatory/penalty for not voting/loss of citizenship 2 5 2 3
Civic pride/duty/tell them it is their duty 4 3
Parents need to be involved/education at home - - 2 3
Other 17 11 9 11
Nothing 1 2 1 2
No answer 26 26
DK/NA/Ref 21 5 21 5

D. Youth Voter Profile

Profiling youth voters versus non-voters shows differences that are similar to those found among the general Canadian population. The young voters are more likely to be:

  • Male; and
  • Living at home;
  • Household income of more than $20,000.

Non-voters are more likely to be:

  • Female;
  • Living away from home.

Regionally, Quebec youth (69%) are the most likely to report voting, while those living in Ontario (56%) and Atlantic Canada (56%) are the least likely.

Youth voter profile
Youth All Canadians
2008 Voter 2008 Non-voter 2008 Voter 2008 Non-voter
n = 315 185 1,833 667
% % % %
Gender
Male 50 44 51 41
Female 50 56 49 59
Living with parents at the time of election 65 48 n/a n/a
Student 62 55 n/a n/a
Active member of student association 20 17 n/a n/a
Household income
Under $20K 10 18 7 12
$20 to under $40K 20 16 16 19
$40K to under $60K 15 15 17 16
$60K to under $80K 12 15 13 13
$80K to under $100K 9 8 11 10
$100K+ 14 12 23 17
Don't know/Refused 21 18 14 13
Internet access at home 97 90 82 79
Facebook profile 73 73 30 42