How to motivate young adults to participate in politics

Voter turnout among young adults is well below the population average. We discover the true political interests of young people.

Only around one in three adolescents between the ages of 18 and 25 exercise their voting rights. Since 2014, political scientist Cloé Jans from the polling and research institute gfs.bernExternal link has been investigating the political participation of young adults.

Jans found that e-voting or the lowering of the voting age are much less decisive for the participation of young adults than political education; this is also the opinion of individuals in this age group. Topical relevance, emotion, and personal concerns are ultimately the factors that drive young people to the ballot box.Together with the umbrella organisation Swiss Youth Parliaments (DSJ), gfs.bern interviewed about 1,500 students between the ages of 15 and 25 with the easyvote Politics Monitor.