Archive for turnout
An electoral problem
The following data is from MORI’s aggregate polling 6 April – 6 May and shows how levels of Liberal Democrat support and turnout varied across different age groups: This problem isn’t new to the 2010 general election, though the pattern was less neat in 2005. It does raise an interesting question for the party’s get [...]
Public interest up, turnout down
One of the great strengths of the polling firm MORI is that they have consistently asked the same questions over decades, making comparisons across elections, decades and even generations possible.* One of these comparisons over time that has caught my eye is the level of public interest in elections:
Thinking back to the campaign, how interested [...]
Does the location of polling stations change how people vote?
Daniel Finkelstein poses the question, based on the finding of an academic survey.
Good news on turnout and engagement
Two pieces of cheery news.
First, from the latest Sunday Times/YouGov poll:
I am so disillusioned with politics that I am seriously thinking of not voting at all in the coming general election:
Agree 15%
Disagree 73%
All things considered, 15% is a pretty low figure.
Second, from a survey of 18-25 year olds:
A survey of 18-25 year-olds, commissioned by new [...]
Latest turnout news: bring on the curate’s egg
A rather mixed tale from the latest election turnout figures I’ve been looking at. Given how I’ve previously blogged about how figures showing turnout on the up usually get overlooked or misquoted by the media, it is only fair to present the less good evidence too.
First, Glasgow North East. Widely reported as having the lowest [...]
Electoral fact of the day: turnout and age
“Nearly three-quarters (74%) of people aged 65 or over said that they had voted in the European Parliamentary elections, compared with only 13% of those aged 18 to 24.”
(From the Electoral Commission’s report in to the June 2009 elections, p.26.)
Weekend voting: will this be the next trend in trying to raise turnout at elections?
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire:
Over the last few years a wide range of attempts have been made to raise turnout at elections in the UK. The broad conclusion is very simple: all-postal ballots raise turnout significantly (albeit at the cost of various drawbacks) and nothing else that has been tried does so. E-voting, early voting, [...]
The plans to cut election expenses may be dead but there are still lessons to learn
Blink and you might have missed it: first details of a discussion about ways to cut the costs of running elections are leaked and then Jack Straw promptly disowns them and kills off the discussion.
Given how weak the proposals were – and the relatively small sums involved – I think that was the right decision [...]
What the media didn’t tell you about the Bedford Mayor election
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire:
Good news, though you’d be hard press to spot it from the media reports. On a like-for-like basis turnout was up significantly in the Bedford Mayor election this week.
In the first Mayor election, in October 2002, turnout was just 25% whilst this Thursday it was up to 31%. Six percentage points [...]
