The UK gives 16-year-olds the right to vote. Brace for social media politics
The British government will vote for 1.5 million 16 and 17 years old by unlocking a new voter base for rival political parties. It can be the key to social media achievements.
On Thursday, the government said it plans to bring an election invoice to 16 and 17 years old in the UK elections.
Since the voting age fell from 21 in 1969, it points to the biggest change in the UK voters.
If it is approved by the Parliament, it will be a major revision of the country’s democratic system. The government said that the proposal, which was included in the last year’s Workers’ Manifesto, will comply with the national elections with Scotland and Wales.
The latest changes mean that British political parties are now confronted with the difficulty of dealing with young voters in the social media age.
More young people polish traditional media organizations and receive their news from social media, According to the 2024 report from Ofcom.
Online sources continue to be the most popular among young age groups, and 88% of 16-24-year-old children use online resources for such updates. Social media uses TV for 82% of young adults using this platform and only half of the 16-24-year-old children.
In the 12-15-year-old category, 12% of young people showed Tiktok as the main news source.
“Tiktok is definitely not one of the most popular digital content platform for young people. While no platform’s success does not last forever, Steven Buckley, who received news from the sociology of digital media at City University of London, is hard to see any more and more people’s tendency.
Buckley stressed that the content published by politicians is very important and that the desperate attempt to be “down with children” would not work.
“One of the basic currencies in today’s society is originality. He will not win a lot of children older than 16 and 17 by sending a lot of tiktok and saying that the leader of the opposition is” Skibiddi Ohio Rizz “.
He said: “It is not true that young people are unrelated to politics or communities. They give in -depth importance about inequality, environment and social justice. Politicians who want to win these new voters can actually do so by dealing with their material concerns.”
It has become very important for the winning elections of social media. Former US President Barack Obama’s use of Facebook opened a new era in 2008, the current White House leader Trump’s tweets, in 2024, the 2016 presidential campaign and re -election helped to collect the voter base.
Although political information can be accessed more easily on multiple platforms, it has not been transformed into higher participation in surveys. According to the parliamentary report, participation in the 2024 UK General Elections, which has the lowest since 2001, was 59.7%.
The jury still decides to give young people the right to vote. A 16 and 17 -year -old survey by political counseling Merlin Strategy He said that only 18% of the 500 people participating in the survey will definitely vote if an election took place tomorrow
Scarlett Maguire, the founder of the Merlin Strategy, said political parties would have to develop more technology and media strategy.
“Politicians need to do more than voting to appeal and take care of young people. Currently, this age group is not very busy with politics or politicians, so politicians will have to do a lot to object to them.” He said.
The Labor Party is widely seen from lowering the voting age. However, according to Maguire, Nigel Farage’s right -wing reform British Party may also receive significant support from this age group. Farage has six times more followers than the Labor Party in Tiktok.
“The reform probably had the best digital media and social media campaign strategies in the last elections. Reform this age group is going well with male youth.
Other plans specified by the government include accepting bank cards as voter identity in the polls centers during the next general election planned for 2029.
