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Appendix 1: Survey Respondent Profiles and RegressionsGeneration Z: Portrait of a New Generation of Young Canadians and How They Compare to Older Canadians

Table 1: Profile of survey respondents

Age Frequency Percentage
16–17 500 12
18–20 544 13
21–24 123 3
25–34 534 12
35–54 994 23
55–74 1,318 31
75+ 274 6
Place of birth Frequency Percentage
Outside Canada 790 18
Canada 3,494 82
Prefer not to answer 3 0
Education Frequency Percentage
CEGEP or some university 1,694 40
Completed university 967 23
High school or less 1,625 38
Prefer not to answer 1 0
Gender Frequency Percentage
Male 1,682 39
Female 2,584 60
Prefer not to answer 21 0
First spoken language Frequency Percentage
English 3,105 72
French 832 19
Other 345 8
Prefer not to answer 5 0
Occupation Frequency Percentage
Employee 1,851 43
Other 1,578 37
Student 858 20
Political interest Frequency Percentage
Not interested at all 319 7
Somewhat uninterested 953 22
Somewhat interested 2,063 48
Very interested 952 22
Religious Frequency Percentage
No 2,402 56
Yes 1,881 44
Prefer not to answer 4 0
Visible minority Frequency Percentage
No 3,253 76
Yes 1,032 24
Prefer not to answer 2 0
Voted in 2019 Frequency Percentage
Didn't vote, can't remember, or wasn't eligible to vote 548 13
I am sure I voted 2,669 62
Thought about voting but didn't 181 4
Usually vote but didn't 167 4
Prefer not to answer 722 17

Table 2: OLS regressions explaining levels of political interest of those aged 16 to 22

Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Respondent under 18 years old 0.02 0.04 0.00
(0.02) (0.05) (0.03)
Non-European or mixed descent −0.01 −0.01 −0.01
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02)
Female −0.01 −0.01 −0.01
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02)
Mother’s highest education level 0.00 0.00 0.00
(0.03) (0.03) (0.03)
Father’s highest education level 0.01 0.01 0.02
(0.03) (0.03) (0.03)
Attended an election information session or event 0.04 0.04 0.09
(0.04) (0.04) (0.05)
Searched for information about the election, candidates or parties 0.04 0.04 0.06
(0.02) (0.02) (0.04)
Used the Vote Compass 0.02 0.02 0.05
(0.03) (0.03) (0.05)
Watched at least one leaders’ debate 0.04 0.04 0.01
(0.02) (0.02) (0.03)
Attended a political debate at their school or university 0.02 0.02 -0.03
(0.04) (0.04) (0.06)
Frequency of talking about politics with teachers 20.09 10.11 20.09
(0.03) (0.05) (0.03)
Frequency of talking about politics with parents 30.22 20.20 30.22
(0.04) (0.07) (0.04)
Frequency of talking about politics with friends 30.25 30.27 30.23
(0.04) (0.07) (0.04)
Voting is first and foremost a duty 0.03 0.03 0.04
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02)
“Politics is too complicated for someone like me” 0.05 0.06 0.05
(0.04) (0.04) (0.04)
Contact by a political party or candidate prior to the election 0.04 0.04 0.04
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02)
Number of correctly answered questions about government institutions 30.04 30.04 30.04
(0.01) (0.01) (0.01)
Under 18 and frequency of talking about politics with teachers -0.03
(0.06)
Under 18 and frequency of talking about politics with parents 0.03
(0.09)
Under 18 and frequency of talking about politics with friends −0.05
(0.08)
Under 18 and attended an election information session or event −0.13
(0.07)
Under 18 and searched for information about the election, candidates or parties −0.02
(0.04)
Under 18 and used the Vote Compass −0.07
(0.06)
Under 18 and watched at least one leaders’ debate 0.07
(0.04)
Under 18 and attended a political debate at their school or university 0.11
(0.07)
(Intercept) −0.34 −0.39 −0.26
(0.40) (0.40) (0.39)
N 655 655 655
R2 0.40 0.40 0.41

Table 3: Logistic regressions explaining intended turnout (for those aged 16–17) and actual turnout levels (for those aged 18–22)

Variables 16–17 18–22
Age in 2019 0.08 0.27
(0.31) (0.20)
Non-European or mixed descent −0.13 −0.80*
(0.31) (0.34)
Female 0.32 0.49
(0.31) (0.37)
Mother’s highest education level −0.19 −0.63
(0.38) (0.50)
Father’s highest education level 0.52 0.26
(0.40) (0.46)
Attended an election information session or event −0.96 −0.67
(0.61) (0.60)
Searched for information about the election, candidates or parties 0.41 0.81*
(0.35) (0.39)
Used the Vote Compass 1.06 -0.50
(0.55) (0.43)
Watched at least one leaders’ debate 0.19 0.09
(0.35) (0.38)
Attended a political debate at their school or university −0.29 0.22
(0.52) (0.47)
Frequency of talking about politics with teachers 1.12 −1.58**
(0.59) (0.59)
Frequency of talking about politics with parents −0.88 -0.56
(0.62) (0.64)
Frequency of talking about politics with friends 2.42** 1.12
(0.75) (0.64)
Voting is first and foremost a duty 1.41*** 0.97**
(0.31) (0.37)
Interest in politics (4-point scale) 1.48* 0.79
(0.69) (0.75)
“Politics is too complicated for someone like me” −0.64 0.31
(0.56) (0.62)
“Voting in a federal election seems easy and convenient” 1.52* 1.01
(0.61) (0.61)
Contact by a political party or candidate prior to the election 0.34 0.39
(0.37) (0.44)
Number of correctly identified political figures −0.06 0.01
(0.19) (0.20)
Number of correctly identified campaign promises −0.02 0.29
(0.17) (0.20)
Number of correctly answered questions about government institutions 0.06 0.19
(0.18) (0.19)
(Intercept) 1.85 −9.42
(7.68) (5.22)
N 320 305
R2 0.27 0.23

Footnotes

1 p < 0.001

2 p < 0.01

3 p < 0.05